SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

1672 WRITE
Basic Specification
The basic specification is a slash followed by a variable list. The values for all of the variables
specified on the list are included with the rest of the output from your session.
Syntax Rules
• A slash must precede the variable specifications. The first slash begins the definition of
the first (and possibly only) line per case of the WRITE output.
• Specified variables must already exist, but they can be numeric, string, scratch, temporary,
or system variables. Subscripted variable names, such as X(1) for the first element in
vector X, cannot be used.
• Keyword ALL can be used to write the values of all user-defined variables in the working
data file.
Operations
• WRITE is executed once for each case constructed from the data file.
• Values are written to the file as the data are read.
• WRITE is a transformation and will not be executed unless it is followed by a procedure
or the EXECUTE command.
• Lines longer than 132 columns can be written. However, if the record width of the lines
to be written exceeds the default output width or the width specified with SET WIDTH, the
program issues an error message and terminates processing.
• There are no carriage control characters in the output file generated by WRITE.
• User-missing values are written just like valid values. System-missing values are represented
by blanks.
• If you are writing a file to be used on another system, you should take into account that
some data types cannot be read all computers.
• If long records are less convenient than short records with multiple records per case, you
can write out a case identifier and insert a string as a record identification number. The
receiving system can then check for missing record numbers (see “Strings” on p. 1674 for
an example).