Using the R Integration Package for IBM SPSS Statistics

The R Integration Package for IBM® SPSS® Statistics provides the ability to use R programming features within IBM SPSS Statistics. The R Integration Package includes the IBM SPSS Statistics - Integration Plug-in for R, which is installed with IBM SPSS Statistics.

Within IBM SPSS Statistics, R programming features are available inside BEGIN PROGRAM R-END PROGRAM program blocks in command syntax, as well as from implementation code for extension commands implemented in R. Within these structures, you have access to both the R programming language and the functions specific to IBM SPSS Statistics, provided in the R Integration Package for IBM SPSS Statistics. These functions allow you to:

• Read case data from the active dataset into R.
• Get information about data in the active dataset.
• Get output results from syntax commands.
• Write results from R back to IBM SPSS Statistics.

You can also run IBM SPSS Statistics from an external R process, such as an R IDE or the R interpreter. In this mode, you still have access to all of the functions in the R Integration Package for IBM SPSS Statistics, but you can develop and test your R programs with the R development environment of your choice.

With these tools you have everything you need to create custom procedures in R. Tutorials are available from "Working with R" in the Help system.