Thread by @a_nineties

How To Read The #Pfizer .xpt Files For Dummies - By A Dummie

in anticipation of tomorrow's fresh #PHMPT document dump, i'll be showing you how to open those pesky .xpt files, because it took me AGES to figure out.

Be warned though, I REALLY dont know what i'm doing😂

so, first off you'll need to download R cloud.r-project.org pick your OS and download.

Run it. You'll get an interface like this:

you'll need to set up two things before we continue:
1) set your working directory (i just used the folder where i download all the files to)

2) load the 'haven' package

alrighty! we're ready to get started. so download an .xpt from phmpt.org, for example this one: pdata0916.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pdocs/090122/F…

unpack it in the working directory, and copy the file location to your clipboard.

now, the code. open a code editor, i use sublime sublimetext.com.

copy the code from here: pastebin.com/qiCwZDGa

now you should have something looking like this. go to the first x and paste in your .xpt file location. delete the highlighted part so you only have the filename.

then copy the filename without the .xpt at the end, and paste it onto the second 'x', like so.

feeling pretty 1337 already, aren't ya? i know i am. so now you copy the whole thing and paste it into the R console, and hit enter. Your .xpt is now an excel-compatible .csv file! it may take a few seconds to appear in your working directory.

and that's it! shoutout to @arkmedic (hopefully soon back on here) for patiently guiding me through the process. Read the files, there is endless fraud and fuckery to be found and we need all the eyes on it we can get. #StoptheShots