SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

EXECUTE
EXECUTE
Overview
EXECUTE forces the data to be read and executes the transformations that precede it in the
command sequence.
Basic Specification
The basic specification is simply the command keyword. EXECUTE has no additional
specifications.
Operations
Example
• EXECUTE causes the data to be read but has no other influence on the session.
• EXECUTE is designed for use with transformation commands and facilities such as ADD
FILES, MATCH FILES, UPDATE, PRINT, and WRITE, which do not read data and are not
executed unless followed by a data-reading procedure.
DATA LIST FILE=RAWDATA / 1 LNAME 1-13 (A) FNAME 15-24 (A)
MMAIDENL 40-55.
VAR LABELS MMAIDENL ’MOTHER’’S MAIDEN NAME’.
DO IF (MMAIDENL EQ ’Smith’).
WRITE OUTFILE=SMITHS/LNAME FNAME.
END IF.
EXECUTE.
• This example writes the last and first names of all people whose mother’s maiden name
was Smith to the data file SMITHS.
• DO IF—END IF and WRITE do not read data and are executed only when data are read for
a procedure. Because there is no procedure in this session, EXECUTE is used to read the
data and execute all of the preceding transformation commands. Otherwise, the commands
would not be executed.
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