SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

414 DATA LIST
Value Delimiter. For freefield-format data (keywords FREE and LIST), you can specify the
character(s) that separate data values, or you can use the keyword TAB to specify the tab character
as the delimiter. Any delimiter other than the TAB keyword must be enclosed in quotation
marks, and the specification must be enclosed in parentheses, as in DATA LIST FREE(“,”).
End-of-File Processing. You can specify a logical variable that indicates the end of the data
using the END subcommand. This logical variable can be used to invoke special processing
after all the cases from the data file have been read.
Basic Specification
• The basic specification is the FIXED, LIST, or FREE keyword, followed by a slash that
signals the beginning of variable definition.
• FIXED is the default.
• If the data are in an external file, the FILE subcommand must be used.
• If the data are inline, the FILE subcommand is omitted and the data are specified between
the BEGIN DATA and END DATA commands.
• Variable definition for fixed-format data includes a variable name, a column location, and
a format (unless the default numeric format is used). The column location is not specified
if FORTRAN-like formats are used, since these formats include the variable width.
• Variable definition for freefield data includes a variable name and, optionally, a delimiter
specification and a FORTRAN-like format specification. If format specifications include a
width and number of decimal positions (for example, F8.2), the width and decimal specifications
are not used to read the data but are assigned as print and write formats for the variables.
Subcommand Order
Subcommands can be named in any order. However, all subcommands must precede the first
slash, which signals the beginning of variable definition.
Syntax Rules
Subcommands on DATA LIST are separated by spaces or commas, not by slashes.
Operations
• DATA LIST clears the working data file and defines a new working file.
• Variable names are stored in the working file dictionary.
• Formats are stored in the working file dictionary and are used to display and write the values.
To change output formats of numeric variables defined on DATA LIST, use the FORMATS
command.