In the latest release of EpiData, the SPSS export has one remaining problem, but the workaround is very simple. The xxxx.sps file should be edited in a plain text editor to correct the line beginning with FREE

Here is what Epidata has in the xxxx.sps file:

SET DECIMAL=dot. DATA LIST FILE = "/path/file.txt" ENCODING="UTF8" FREE {("|")} <---- this is the problem line RECORDS = 1

It should be

SET DECIMAL=dot. DATA LIST FILE = "/Users/charlesknightsbridge/Data/BRFSS/brfss.2013-09-14.2.txt" ENCODING="UTF8" FREE ("|") <---- remove the braces RECORDS = 1

That is, remove { and } from the line that starts with FREE. That is change FREE {("|")} to FREE ("|")

Oddly enough, if you use the open source software PSPP, you do not have to make this change, but it will work either way.

Also take note that the delimiter used for the data file (xxxx.txt) is a vertical bar (|). If you might have a vertical bar inside a text field in Epidata, the import into SPSS or PSPP will fail. That would be a very unusual character to have in a text field anyway.

Jamie