SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

1222 POINT
Example
• DATA LIST reads the variables AGE, SEX, and TICKETS from the file DRIVERS.
• The second DO IF—END IF structure executes an END FILE command as soon as a record
is read that contains a driver’s age greater than 30. The program does not add this last case
to the working file when it ends the file (see END FILE).
FILE HANDLE DRIVERS/ file specifications.
POINT FILE=DRIVERS /KEY=#FRSTAGE.
• FILE HANDLE defines the handle for the data file to be read by POINT. The handle is specified
on the FILE subcommand on POINT.
• KEY on POINT specifies the key variable. The key variable must be a string, and it must
already exist as the result of a prior DATA LIST, KEYED DATA LIST, or transformation
command.
FILE Subcommand
FILE specifies a file handle for the keyed data file.The file handle must have been previously
defined on a FILE HANDLE command.
• FILE is optional.
• If FILE is omitted, POINT reads from the last file specified on an input command, such as
DATA LIST.
Example
FILE HANDLE DRIVERS/ file specifications.
POINT FILE=DRIVERS /KEY=#NXTCASE.
• FILE HANDLE specifies DRIVERS as the file handle for the data. The FILE subcommand
on POINT specifies file handle DRIVERS.
KEY Subcommand
KEY specifies the variable whose value will be used as the file key for determining where
sequential retrieval by DATA LIST will begin or resume. This variable must be a string variable,
and it must already exist as the result of a prior DATA LIST, KEYED DATA LIST, or transformation
command.
• KEY is required. Its only specification is a single variable. The variable can be a permanent
variable or a scratch variable.
• Where the keys on a file are inherently numbers, such as social security numbers, the
STRING function can be used to convert the numeric variable to a string (see “Conversion
Functions” on p. 48 in Volume I).