SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

WRITE FORMATS
WRITE FORMATS varlist (format) [varlist...]
Example
Overview
WRITE FORMATS SALARY (DOLLAR8)
/ HOURLY (DOLLAR7.2)
/ RAISE BONUS (PCT2).
WRITE FORMATS changes variable write formats. Write formats are output formats and
control the form in which values are written by the WRITE command.
WRITE FORMATS changes only write formats. To change print formats, use the PRINT
FORMATS command. To change both the print and write formats with a single specification,
use the FORMATS command. For information on assigning input formats during data definition,
see DATA LIST. For a more detailed discussion of input and output formats, see “Variable
Formats” on p. 25 in Volume I.
Basic Specification
The basic specification is a variable list followed by the new format specification in parentheses.
All specified variables receive the new format.
Syntax Rules
• You can specify more than one variable or variable list, followed by a format in parentheses.
Only one format can be specified after each variable list. For clarity, each set of
specifications can be separated by a slash.
• You can use keyword TO to refer to consecutive variables in the working data file.
• The specified width of a format must include enough positions to accommodate any
punctuation characters such as decimal points, commas, dollar signs, or date and time
delimiters. (This differs from assigning an input format on DATA LIST, where the
program automatically expands the input format to accommodate punctuation characters
in output.)
• Custom currency formats (CCw, CCw.d) must first be defined on the SET command
before they can be used on WRITE FORMATS.
• WRITE FORMATS cannot be used with string variables. To change the length of a string
variable, declare a new variable of the desired length with the STRING command and
then use COMPUTE to copy values from the existing string into the new string.
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