SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

Equivalence
COMPUTE 259
STRING DEPT(A20).
COMPUTE DEPT=’Personnel Department’.
COMPUTE OLDVAR=NEWVAL.
• DEPT is a new string variable and must be specified on STRING before it can be specified
on COMPUTE. STRING assigns DEPT a width of 20 characters, and COMPUTE assigns the
value Personnel Department to DEPT for each case.
• OLDVAR must already exist; otherwise, it would have to be declared on STRING. The
values of OLDVAR are modified to equal the values of NEWVAL. NEWVAL must be an
existing string variable. If the dictionary width of NEWVAL is longer than the dictionary
width of OLDVAR, the modified values of OLDVAR are truncated.
String Functions
STRING NEWSTR(A7) / DATE(A8) / #MO #DA #YR (A2).
COMPUTE NEWSTR=LAG(OLDSTR,2).
COMPUTE #MO=STRING(MONTH,F2.0).
COMPUTE #DA=STRING(DAY,F2.0).
COMPUTE #YR=STRING(YEAR,F2.0).
COMPUTE DATE=CONCAT(#MO,’/’,#DA,’/’,#YR).
COMPUTE LNAME=UPCASE(LNAME).
• STRING declares NEWSTR as a new string variable with a width of seven characters, DATE
with a width of eight characters, and scratch variables #MO, #DA, and #YR with a width of
two characters each.
• The first COMPUTE sets NEWSTR equal to the value of OLDSTR for two cases previous.
The first two cases receive the system-missing value for NEWSTR.
• The next three COMPUTE commands convert the existing numeric variables MONTH,
DAY, and YEAR to the temporary string variables #MO, #DA, and #YR so that they can be
used with the CONCAT function. The next COMPUTE assigns the concatenated value of
#MO, #DA, and #YR, separated by slashes, to DATE. If #MO is 10, #DA is 16, and #YR is
49, DATE is 10/16/49.
• The final COMPUTE converts lowercase letters for the existing string variable LNAME to
uppercase letters.