SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

426 DATA LIST
Column-Style Format Specifications
The following rules apply to column-style formats:
• Data must be in a fixed format.
• Column locations must be specified after variable names. The width of a variable is determined
by the number of specified columns. See “Fixed-Format Data” on p. 423 for information
on specifying column location.
• Following the column location, specify the format type in parentheses. The format type
applies only to the variable or the list of variables associated with the column location
specification immediately before it. If no format type is specified, numeric (F) format is
used.
• To include decimal positions in the format, specify the format type followed by a comma
and the number of decimal positions. For example, (DOLLAR) specifies only whole dollar
amounts; (DOLLAR,2) specifies DOLLAR format with two decimal positions.
• Since column positions are explicitly specified, the variables can be named in any order.
FORTRAN-like Format Specifications
The following rules apply to FORTRAN-like formats:
• Data can be in either fixed or freefield format.
• Column locations cannot be specified. The width of a variable is determined by the width
portion (w) of the format specification. The width must specify the number of characters
in the widest value.
• One format specification applies to only one variable. The format is specified in parentheses
after the variable to which it applies. Alternatively, a variable list can be followed
by an equal number of format specifications contained in one set of parentheses. When a
number of consecutive variables have the same format, the number can be used as a multiplying
factor preceding the format. For example, (3F5.2) assigns the format F5.2 to three
consecutive variables.
• For fixed data, the number of formats specified (either explicitly or implied by the multiplication
factor) must be the same as the number of variables. Otherwise, the program
issues an error message. If no formats are specified, all variables have the default format
F8.2.
• For freefield data, variables with no specified formats take the default F8.2 format.
However, an asterisk (*) must be used to indicate where the default format stops. Otherwise,
the program tries to apply the next specified format to every variable before it and
issues an error message if the number of formats specified is less than the number of variables.
• For freefield data, width and decimal specifications are not used to read the data but are
assigned as print and write formats for the variable.
• For fixed data, Tn can be used before a format to indicate that the variable begins at the
nth column, and nX can be used to skip n columns before reading the variable. When Tn
is specified, variables named do not have to follow the order of the variables in the data.