SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

DOCUMENT
DOCUMENT text
Example
Overview
DOCUMENT This file contains a subset of variables from the
General Social Survey data. For each case it records
only the age, sex, education level, marital status,
number of children, and type of medical insurance
coverage.
DOCUMENT saves a block of text of any length in an SPSS-format data file. The documentation
can be displayed with the DISPLAY command. (See also ADD DOCUMENT.)
When GET retrieves a data file, or when ADD FILES, MATCH FILES, or UPDATE is used
to combine data files, all documents from each specified file are copied into the working
file. DROP DOCUMENTS can be used to drop those documents from the working file.
Whether or not DROP DOCUMENTS is used, new documents can be added to the working
file with the DOCUMENT command.
Basic Specification
The basic specification is DOCUMENT followed by any length of text. The text is stored in
the file dictionary when the data are saved in an SPSS-format data file.
Syntax Rules
• The text can be entered on as many lines as needed.
• Blank lines can be used to separate paragraphs.
• A period at the end of a line terminates the command, so you should not place a period
at the end of any line but the last.
• Multiple DOCUMENT commands can be used within the command sequence. However,
the DISPLAY command cannot be used to exhibit the text from a particular DOCUMENT
command. DISPLAY shows all existing documentation.
Operations
• The documentation and the date it was entered are saved in the data file’s dictionary. New
documentation is saved along with any documentation already in the working data file.
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