Run CMD line from within SPSS

Question

Is there a way to run a Windows command line from within SPSS?

I'm working with a program that is not supported by SPSS BEGIN PROGRAM procedures and I would like to run a command line from my SPSS syntax (I'm not interested in the output and I don't need to import/export any SPSS data I just want to run a cmd line from within SPSS).

To take a simpler example using freeware, let's say I want to run my R script at the end of my SPSS syntax but this would only work with a version not supported by SPSS (e.g. at the moment SPSS 21 supports R 2.14, let's say I absolutely need to run it on R 2.15 installed on my Windows PC), is there a way to run

R CMD BATCH C:\Files\MyRcode.R

within the SPSS syntax?

This is equivalent to running a program (in this case R) in batch mode. The program I need to use is not R, it's just an example.

As far as I'm aware SPSS can't do this but maybe using python (through SPSS BEGIN PROGRAM PYTHON) one can run a command line by using Python?

Thanks

P.S. For Python users who may not have used SPSS before one should in theory be able to run any Python code from within SPSS by using

BEGIN PROGRAM PYTHON.
Run some Python code
END PROGRAM.

Answer 1

Yes, you can do it with Python code:

BEGIN PROGRAM PYTHON.
import subprocess
subprocess.call(['C:\\R\\R.exe', 'CMD', 'BATCH', 'C:\\Files\\MyRcode.R'])
END PROGRAM.

Or, directly, with this:

HOST COMMAND=['R CMD BATCH C:\Files\MyRcode.R'].

Alternatives:

• Put it in a batch file then execute it, for example using os.system().
• Execute the Python or Basic script through the SCRIPT command.