SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

Example 5
DATE Y 1950 Q 2 M.
DATE 437
• This example creates four variables (DATE_, YEAR_, QUARTER_, and MONTH_) in a file
where observations are quarterly, starting with April 1950.
• The starting value for MONTH_ is inferred from QUARTER_.
• This specification is equivalent to DATE Y 1950 Q M 4. Here, the starting value for
QUARTER_ (2) would be inferred from MONTH.
Example 6
DATE reports the following:
Name Label
YEAR_ YEAR, not periodic
QUARTER_ QUARTER, period 4
MONTH_ MONTH, period 12
DATE_ DATE. FORMAT: "MMM YYYY"
The following is a partial listing of the new variables:
YEAR_ QUARTER_ MONTH_ DATE_
1950 2 4 APR 1950
1950 2 5 MAY 1950
1950 2 6 JUN 1950
1950 3 7 JUL 1950
1950 3 8 AUG 1950
...
1988 4 11 NOV 1988
1988 4 12 DEC 1988
1989 1 1 JAN 1989
1989 1 2 FEB 1989
1989 1 3 MAR 1989
1989 2 4 APR 1989
1989 2 5 MAY 1989
1989 2 6 JUN 1989
1989 3 7 JUL 1989
1989 3 8 AUG 1989
1989 3 9 SEP 1989
DATE OBS 9 17.
• This command creates variables DATE_, CYCLE_, and OBS_ and assigns values to observations
sequentially, starting with value 9. The periodicity is 17.
DATE reports the following:
Name Label
CYCLE_ CYCLE, not periodic
OBS_ OBS, period 17
DATE_ DATE. FORMAT: "CCCC OO"