SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

DATA LIST 417
LIST Freefield data with one case on each record. The variables are recorded in freefield
format as described for the keyword FREE except that the variables for each case
must be recorded on one record.
• FIXED, FREE, or LIST must be separated from other DATA LIST subcommands by at least
one blank or comma.
• FIXED, FREE, or LIST must precede the first slash, which signals the beginning of data
definition.
• For fixed-format data, you can use column-style or FORTRAN-like formats, or a combination
of both. For freefield data, you can use only FORTRAN-like formats.
• For fixed-format data, the program reads values according to the column locations
specified or implied by the FORTRAN-like format. Values in the data do not have to be
in the same order as the variables named on DATA LIST and do not have to be separated by
a space or column.
• For freefield data, the program reads values sequentially in the order in which the
variables are named on DATA LIST. Values in the data must be in the order in which the
variables are named on DATA LIST and must be separated by at least one valid delimiter.
• For freefield data, multiple blank spaces can be used to indicate missing information only
if a blank space is explicitly specified as the delimiter. In general, it is better to use
multiple non-blank delimiters (for example, two commas with no intervening space) to
specify missing data.
• In freefield format, a value cannot be split across records.
Example
* Data in fixed format.
DATA LIST FILE=HUBDATA FIXED RECORDS=3
/1 YRHIRED 14-15 DEPT 19 SEX 20.
• FIXED indicates explicitly that the HUBDATA file is in fixed format. Because FIXED is the
default, the keyword FIXED could have been omitted.
• Variable definition begins after the slash. Column locations are specified after each variable.
Since formats are not specified, the default numeric format is used. Variable widths
are determined by the column specifications: YRHIRED is two characters wide, and DEPT
and SEX are each one character wide.
Example
* Data in freefield format.
DATA LIST FREE / POSTPOS NWINS.
BEGIN DATA
2, 19, 7, 5, 10, 25, 5, 17, 8, 11, 3,, 6, 8, 1, 29
END DATA.
• Data are inline, so FILE is omitted. The keyword FREE is used because data are in freefield
format with multiple cases on a single record. Two variables, POSTPOS and NWINS, are
defined. Since formats are not specified, both variables receive the default F8.2 format.
• All of the data are recorded on one record. The first two values build the first case in the
working data file. For the first case, POSTPOS has value 2 and NWINS has value 19. For