SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

FILE TYPE—END FILE TYPE 575
• The column location of the case identifier is required. The variable name is optional.
• If you do not want to save the case identification variable, you can assign a scratch variable
name by using the # character as the first character of the name. If a variable name
is not specified on CASE, the case identifier is defined as the scratch variable ####CASE.
• A column-style format can be specified for the case identifier. For example, the following
two specifications are valid:
CASE=V1 1-2(N)
CASE=V1 1-2(F,1)
FORTRAN-like formats cannot be used because the column location must be specified
explicitly.
• Specify A in parentheses after the column location to define the case identification variable
as a string variable.
• If the case identification number is not in the same columns on all record types, use the
CASE subcommand on the RECORD TYPE commands as well as on the FILE TYPE
command (see RECORD TYPE).
Example
* A grouped file of student test scores.
FILE TYPE GROUPED RECORD=#TEST 6 CASE=STUDENT 1-4.
RECORD TYPE 1.
DATA LIST /ENGLISH 8-9 (A).
RECORD TYPE 2.
DATA LIST /READING 8-10.
RECORD TYPE 3.
DATA LIST /MATH 8-10.
END FILE TYPE.
BEGIN DATA
0001 1 B+
0001 2 74
0001 3 83
0002 1 A
0002 2 100
0002 3 71
0003 1 B-
0003 2 88
0003 3 81
0004 1 C
0004 2 94
0004 3 91
END DATA.
• CASE is required for grouped files. CASE specifies variable STUDENT, located in columns
1–4, as the case identification variable.
• The data contain four different values for STUDENT. The working data file therefore has
four cases, one for each value of STUDENT. In a grouped file, each unique value for the
case identification variable defines a case in the working file.
• Each case includes the case identification variable plus the variables defined for each
record type. The values for #TEST are not saved in the working data file. Thus, each case
in the working file has four variables: STUDENT, ENGLISH, READING, and MATH.