Generating Data from the Command Line

record  uuid              date              markers     status  Q1  ...
1       qb9nuj5u6utptzap  05/13/2014 16:01  qualified   3       3   ...
5       zu520guzq6ugbv3y  05/13/2014 16:31  qualified   3       2   ...
3       sve0pnufdzewfwtn  05/13/2014 17:04  qualified   3       4   ...
2       uvkr5yus8e7bm67w  05/13/2014 17:21  qualified   3       3   ...
4       a037mefyqp8d0n0z  05/13/2014 17:32  qualified   3       4   ...
6       4k0a11cyh2sw08mq  05/13/2014 17:51  qualified   3       2   ...

1: Generating Syntax & Options

The syntax for the generate command is shown below:

1.1: Syntax

generate [-avp] [--layout=layout] [--force-oe] [--encoding=charset] <survey> <config> <datatype> [fields]

1.2: Option Descriptions

Option	Description
`-a`	Output all fields, including hidden ones. By default, `generate` outputs the same information as you would find in the data downloads area. Specify `-a` to output all information, including hidden questions like ones with `where="none"` set.
`-p`	Execute Python code. You can specify custom Python logic to generate data only where a Python expression evaluates to "True". e.g. `generate -p . "Q1.r1 and qualified" tab > Q1_r1_data.txt`
`-v`	Verbose mode.
`--layout`	Allows you to specify a layout # for generating the data file rather than the standard layout or a variables.xls file.
`--force-oe`	Force OE data to be generated.
`--encoding`	The default output of the `generate` command will be the same character set as the survey. You can override and force this to be any character set. e.g., `generate --encoding=utf8`
`--textual`	Responses are generated as answer text instead of numbers. e.g., `generate --textual . all xlsx out.xlsx`
`--stack`	Use to retrieve stacked data files. Can be set to: `top` Outputs all looped variables. `label`: Outputs looped data for the specified loop.
`<survey>`	The path to the survey to generate data from e.g., `selfserve/9d3/proj1234`.
`<config>`	The type of participant data to generate. Choose any of the following or use the `-p` modifier to specify custom Python logic: `all` : Terminated, overquota and qualified. `qualified` : Qualified only. `config` : Configuration of a saved report (appears after `config=` in report URL). `partials` : Partials only. `everything` : `all` + `partials`. `xt:` : prefix for crosstabs id. Will only generate data from the first segment of the crosstab. Example: `xt:sgp338n233fcxfr9`. To generate data from the second segment of the crosstab, use the suffix `:2`. Example: `xt:sgp338n233fcxfr9:2`. To generate data from the third segment of the crosstab, use the suffix `:3`. Example: `xt:sgp338n233fcxfr9:3`. `"Python Expression"` : Python expression if `-p` option is set.
`<datatype>`	The type of data to generate. Can be set to: `fw` `pipe` `flat` `flat_all` `cb` `cbtext` `tab` `sav` `tab-text` `csv` `excel` `wincross` `datamap [fw html oe]` `xlsx` (use the `--textual` option to get answer values). `json` You may also generate files into a ZIP bundle. e.g. `generate . all zip:spss.fw,data.fw myFile.zip`
`[fields]`	The variables you would want to generate if you do not want all variables e.g., `generate . all tab uuid status Q1 > data.txt`.

Notes:

Running generate to create an SPSS *.sav file will create an SPSS 16+ Unicode-enabled file by default.
Be sure to only use the supported Excel format (.xlsx) when generating an Excel dataset via the command line as shown in the example below.
To control the fields contained in the output when generating .xlsx files, you will need to create a custom data layout and then use the --layout option to pull only the desired columns.

Note: Setting blankValue as a string in the <survey> tag will cause an error when exporting an SPSS file. Use a numeric response for blankValue instead.

2: Examples

All of the following generate commands are valid:

# Tab Delimited Output of "all" data
generate . all tab > tab_delimited.txt

# Generate Using Python Expressions
generate -p . 'Q1.r1 and terminated' tab > Q1_terms.txt
generate -p . 'Q2.r1.val < 40 and qualified' tab > Q2_quals.txt
generate -p . 'hasMarker("/Concept/C1") and overquota' tab > C1_OQs.txt
generate -p . 'date_range("01-jan-2014", "31-jan-2014")' tab

# Generate ALL Variables
generate -a . everything tab > all_data.txt

# Bundle in SPSS Download
generate . all zip:spss.fw,data.fw myFile.zip

# Generate Partial Data
generate . partials tab > partial_data.txt

# Generate Based on Report Configuration
generate . '$FS1oQ' tab > report_config_data.txt

# Generate Only Certain Fields
generate . all tab uuid date status Q1 Q2r1 Q2r2 Q2r3 > my_data.txt

# Generate Certain Fields Sorted By Record
generate . all tab record uuid data markers | sort > sorted_data.txt

# Generate Completes Between Midnight 14 Days Ago to End of Day Today
generate -p . 'date_days(14, 0)' tab uuid date

# Generate an XLSX Excel 2007 File
generate . all xlsx out.xlsx

# Generate an XLSX Excel 2007 File with Text Answers Instead of Numbers
generate --textual . all xlsx out.xlsx

# Generate an SPSS File
generate . all sav out.sav

#Generate the UUIDs for the first segment of the crosstab (with id yh04vrsq5p2j4cex)
generate . xt:yh04vrsq5p2j4cex tab uuid

#Generate the UUIDs for the second segment of the crosstab (with id yh04vrsq5p2j4cex)
generate . xt:yh04vrsq5p2j4cex:2 tab uuid

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In this article

1: Generating Syntax & Options

1.1: Syntax

1.2: Option Descriptions

2: Examples