Unicode

[SZQ]

My organization is migrating from version 13 to 17.  I've caught up on the
many changes since version 13, but I'm stumped by unicode.  Can anyone
explain to me exactly what unicode is and if it is necessary for me to
change the default setting?  We periodically exchange data with colleagues
in Africa and Latin America, and have never had problems reading data from
these areas before in earlier versions of the sofware.

=====================
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[Peck, Jon]

Simply put, Unicode enables you to work with all the characters of the world (or at least 100,00 of them).

If your text always consists of roman characters with only the usual accents, you don't need to set Unicode on, but if you sometimes have, say, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, or Asian text, Unicode is your ticket to success.

Even if you don't use Unicode mode, though, check out the new character handling functions such as char.length and the other char. functions as they have some friendlier behavior than the old ones.

BTW, if you use MS Office, any major database, and probably Outlook, you are already using Unicode.  If you would like to know more about it, a good place to start is
http://www.unicode.org/standard/WhatIsUnicode.html

HTH,
Jon Peck

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of SZQ
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 11:42 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SPSSX-L] Unicode

My organization is migrating from version 13 to 17.  I've caught up on the
many changes since version 13, but I'm stumped by unicode.  Can anyone
explain to me exactly what unicode is and if it is necessary for me to
change the default setting?  We periodically exchange data with colleagues
in Africa and Latin America, and have never had problems reading data from
these areas before in earlier versions of the sofware.

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

[mpirritano]

Jon,

I receive data that is in Unicode format. To read it into paws I have
been converting it with some simply python code that came to me courtesy
of a fellow lister.

Is this necessary? Or can I just change the default format and read it
in as normal text? I'm sure I must have tried that before I went the
python route, but I don't recall.

And since we're on the topic I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks
Matt


Matthew Pirritano, Ph.D.
Research Analyst IV
Medical Services Initiative (MSI)
Orange County Health Care Agency
[phone]

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Peck, Jon
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 11:08 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Unicode

Simply put, Unicode enables you to work with all the characters of the
world (or at least 100,00 of them).

If your text always consists of roman characters with only the usual
accents, you don't need to set Unicode on, but if you sometimes have,
say, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, or Asian text, Unicode is your ticket to
success.

Even if you don't use Unicode mode, though, check out the new character
handling functions such as char.length and the other char. functions as
they have some friendlier behavior than the old ones.

BTW, if you use MS Office, any major database, and probably Outlook, you
are already using Unicode.  If you would like to know more about it, a
good place to start is
http://www.unicode.org/standard/WhatIsUnicode.html

HTH,
Jon Peck

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
SZQ
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 11:42 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SPSSX-L] Unicode

My organization is migrating from version 13 to 17.  I've caught up on
the
many changes since version 13, but I'm stumped by unicode.  Can anyone
explain to me exactly what unicode is and if it is necessary for me to
change the default setting?  We periodically exchange data with
colleagues
in Africa and Latin America, and have never had problems reading data
from
these areas before in earlier versions of the sofware.

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

[Oliver, Richard]

There may be some issues with attempting to read fixed format Unicode text data via the Text Wizard, but other than that simply switching to Unicode mode should do the trick.

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Pirritano, Matthew
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 1:21 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Unicode

Jon,

I receive data that is in Unicode format. To read it into paws I have
been converting it with some simply python code that came to me courtesy
of a fellow lister.

Is this necessary? Or can I just change the default format and read it
in as normal text? I'm sure I must have tried that before I went the
python route, but I don't recall.

And since we're on the topic I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks
Matt


Matthew Pirritano, Ph.D.
Research Analyst IV
Medical Services Initiative (MSI)
Orange County Health Care Agency
[phone]

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Peck, Jon
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 11:08 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Unicode

Simply put, Unicode enables you to work with all the characters of the
world (or at least 100,00 of them).

If your text always consists of roman characters with only the usual
accents, you don't need to set Unicode on, but if you sometimes have,
say, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian, or Asian text, Unicode is your ticket to
success.

Even if you don't use Unicode mode, though, check out the new character
handling functions such as char.length and the other char. functions as
they have some friendlier behavior than the old ones.

BTW, if you use MS Office, any major database, and probably Outlook, you
are already using Unicode.  If you would like to know more about it, a
good place to start is
http://www.unicode.org/standard/WhatIsUnicode.html

HTH,
Jon Peck

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
SZQ
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 11:42 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SPSSX-L] Unicode

My organization is migrating from version 13 to 17.  I've caught up on
the
many changes since version 13, but I'm stumped by unicode.  Can anyone
explain to me exactly what unicode is and if it is necessary for me to
change the default setting?  We periodically exchange data with
colleagues
in Africa and Latin America, and have never had problems reading data
from
these areas before in earlier versions of the sofware.

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD