spss.Cursor Class (Python)

spss.Cursor(var, accessType, cvtDates, isBinary). Provides the ability to read cases, append cases, and add new variables to the active dataset.

  • The optional argument var specifies a tuple or a list of variable index values representing position in the active dataset, starting with 0 for the first variable in file order. This argument is used in read or write mode to specify a subset of variables to return when reading case data from the active dataset. If the argument is omitted, all variables are returned. The argument has no effect if used in append mode.
  • The optional argument accessType specifies one of three usage modes: read ('r'), write ('w'), and append ('a'). The default is read mode.
  • The optional argument cvtDates specifies a set of IBM® SPSS® Statistics variables with date or datetime formats to convert to Python datetime.datetime objects when reading data from IBM SPSS Statistics. The argument is a sequence of variable index values representing position in the active dataset, starting with 0 for the first variable in file order. If the optional argument var is specified, then cvtDates must be a subset of the index values specified for var. You can specify to convert all date or datetime format variables with cvtDates='ALL', or by setting cvtDates to a list or tuple with the single element 'ALL', as in cvtDates=['ALL']. When 'ALL' is specified in conjunction with var, it refers to all variables specified in var. If cvtDates is omitted, then no conversions are performed. Variables included in cvtDates that do not have a date or datetime format are ignored in terms of the conversion. cvtDates applies to read and write mode and cannot be used in append mode.

    Note: Values of variables with date or datetime formats that are not converted with cvtDates are returned as integers representing the number of seconds from October 14, 1582.

  • The optional Boolean argument isBinary (introduced in version 22) specifies the method that is used by the Cursor class to work with the data in the active dataset. It has no effect on Cursor functionality. By default isBinary is set to True, which typically provides the best performance but might require more temporary disk space. When isBinary is set to False, the Cursor class uses the same method for working with the data as in versions before version 22.
  • You cannot use the spss.Submit function while a data cursor is open. You must close or delete the cursor first.
  • Only one data cursor can be open at any point in the program block. To define a new data cursor, you must first close or delete the previous one. If you need to concurrently work with the data from multiple datasets, consider using the Dataset class.
  • Instances of the Cursor class are implicitly deleted at the end of a BEGIN PROGRAM-END PROGRAM block, and therefore they do not persist across BEGIN PROGRAM-END PROGRAM blocks.
  • The Cursor class honors case filters specified with the FILTER or USE commands.