Stat/Math - Getting Started Using ODBC with SAS and SPSS

The Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standard is a common application programming interface for accessing data files. In other words, ODBC allows you to move data back and forth easily between ODBC compliant applications. So, for example, you can easily extract data from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or Paradox database using SAS or SPSS without having to go through any tedious translation procedure. With ODBC, all you have to do is specify the type of file you are accessing and the data you want, and the ODBC driver will do the rest of the work. This document is designed to show you some of the ways that you can take advantage of ODBC when using SAS and SPSS. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with SAS and/or SPSS and has access to an ODBC compliant data file. An ODBC compliant data file is a file created by a software package that conforms to the ODBC standard (e.g. Microsoft Access, Excel, Paradox, FoxPro, etc.) and has the necessary ODBC driver(s) installed. It is also assumed that the reader is going to use ODBC and SAS or SPSS on a personal computer running Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP. [via]

http://www.indiana.edu/~statmath/stat/all/odb...