SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

58 Universals
On some operating systems, such as IBM CMS, WK must be upper case. The displayed
output is 43 WK 90 or 43 WK 1990, depending on whether the specified width allows
enough space for all four digits of the year.
• In time specifications, colons can be used as delimiters between hours, minutes, and
seconds. Hours and minutes are required but seconds are optional. A period is required to
separate seconds from fractional seconds. Hours can be of unlimited magnitude, but the
maximum value for minutes is 59 and for seconds 59.999. . . .
• Data values can contain a sign (+ or −) in TIME and DTIME formats to represent time
intervals before or after a point in time.
Example
DATA LIST FIXED
/VAR1 1-17 (DATE) VAR2 21-37 (ADATE) VAR3 41-47 (JDATE).
BEGIN DATA
28-10-90 10/28/90 90301
28.OCT.1990 X 28 1990 1990301
28 October, 2001 Oct. 28, 2001 2001301
END DATA.
LIST.
• Internally, all date format variables are stored as the number of seconds from 0 hours, 0
minutes, and 0 seconds of Oct. 14, 1582.
The LIST output from these commands is shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15 Output illustrating DATE, ADATE, and JDATE formats
Example
VAR1 VAR2 VAR3
28-OCT-1990 10/28/1990 1990301
28-OCT-1990 10/28/1990 1990301
28-OCT-2001 10/28/2001 2001301
DATA LIST FIXED /VAR1 1-10 (QYR) VAR2 12-25 (MOYR) VAR3 28-37 (WKYR).
BEGIN DATA
4Q90 10/90 43WK90
4 Q 90 Oct-1990 43 WK 1990
4 Q 2001 October, 2001 43 WK 2001
END DATA.
LIST.
• Internally, the value of a QYR variable is stored as midnight of the first day of the first
month of the specified quarter, the value of a MOYR variable is stored as midnight of the
first day of the specified month, and the value of a WKYR format variable is stored as midnight
of the first day of the specified week. Thus, 4Q90 and 10/90 are both equivalent to
October 1, 1990, and 43WK90 is equivalent to October 22, 1990.