displaying characters

[Rodrigo Briceño]

Dear SPSS users. I received a database with information from Bulgaria.
I'm using the SPSS v15 in Spanish but when I open the data the variables
that contain strings appear as ?????. The original format of the DB is
Access and when I open the data in Access there is no problem with the
displaying of fonts. Those characters are similar to Russian alphabet
(cyrillic maybe...).

Do any of you knows how to handle the strings in this case?

Thanks.
--

__________________________________________________________________

*Rodrigo Briceño*
Project Manager
Sanigest Internacional

[phone] ext. 113  * Oficina* *Costa Rica*
[phone]                  *Fax
*[phone]*                  Celular**
*[hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
www.sanigest.com <http://www.sanigest.com/>

MSN: [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
SKYPE: rbriceno1087

_____________________

This communication contains legal information which is privileged and
confidential. It is for the exclusive use of the address and
distribution, dissemination, copying or use by others is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication by error, please
delete the original message and e-mail us.


Esta comunicación contiene información legal privilegiada y confidencial
para el uso exclusivo del destinatario. La distribución, diseminación,
copia u otro uso por terceras personas es estrictamente prohibida. Si
usted ha recibido esta comunicación por error, le rogamos borrar el
mensaje original y comunicárnoslo a esta misma dirección.

=====================
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

[Peck, Jon]

You need to set the SPSS locale to Bulgarian before opening the dataset.  It is in a different code page (character encoding) from what you use by default in Spain (code page 1252).

Run
SET LOCALE=Bulgarian.

This will set the code page to 1251, which is Cyrillic.  The question marks will go away.  (I am assuming that this is all Windows, since you refer to Access below).

You will still need to adjust the fonts so that they display the right characters.  In the font dialogs, look at the script field in the lower right and choose the right one - Cyrillic.

When you are in this mixed mode with your Windows setting as Spanish but your SPSS locale as Bulgarian,  some user interface features in SPSS 15 can't display correctly, but the data should be okay.  If you need everything to work, you need to change your Windows locale to Bulgarian, but that will cause trouble for accented characters in Spanish.

SPSS 16 supports Unicode and gets rid of all these problems.  If your dataset contains Cyrillic characters and other Unicode characters, only SPSS 16 can handle everything correctly.

HTH,
Jon Peck

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Rodrigo Briceño
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 8:56 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SPSSX-L] displaying characters

Dear SPSS users. I received a database with information from Bulgaria.
I'm using the SPSS v15 in Spanish but when I open the data the variables
that contain strings appear as ?????. The original format of the DB is
Access and when I open the data in Access there is no problem with the
displaying of fonts. Those characters are similar to Russian alphabet
(cyrillic maybe...).

Do any of you knows how to handle the strings in this case?

Thanks.
--

__________________________________________________________________

*Rodrigo Briceño*
Project Manager
Sanigest Internacional

[phone] ext. 113  * Oficina* *Costa Rica*
[phone]                  *Fax
*[phone]*                  Celular**
*[hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
www.sanigest.com <http://www.sanigest.com/>

MSN: [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
SKYPE: rbriceno1087

_____________________

This communication contains legal information which is privileged and
confidential. It is for the exclusive use of the address and
distribution, dissemination, copying or use by others is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication by error, please
delete the original message and e-mail us.


Esta comunicación contiene información legal privilegiada y confidencial
para el uso exclusivo del destinatario. La distribución, diseminación,
copia u otro uso por terceras personas es estrictamente prohibida. Si
usted ha recibido esta comunicación por error, le rogamos borrar el
mensaje original y comunicárnoslo a esta misma dirección.

=====================
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