Returning full variable labels

[carecodeconnect]

Thank you for writing such a great package!

I have imported an SPSS .sav file into R using haven::read_sav and have noticed that long variable labels get truncated (to between around 100-140 characters).

I seem to be unable to read the entire original variable labels as they appeared in SPSS. This is the case whether I use var_label(data$variable), attr(data$variable, "label"), or str(data$label). Using the latter command returns __truncated__ following the label character.

The same thing happens when I import the .sav file into Python using pyreadstat and pandas.read_spss

Do you know if there is a maximum character limit on Haven/ReadStat when importing variable labels from .sav files into R or Python? Is there a way to read these that is not truncated?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[gorcha]

Hi @carecodeconnect, thanks for the report.

Since this behaviour is the same in pyreadstat it's most likely something to do with the ReadStat code that reads variable labels rather than a haven specific thing, but I'll check it out.