SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

Aggregation Functions
Date and Time 63
Aggregation functions generate dates and time intervals from values that were not read by
date and time input formats.
• All aggregation functions begin with DATE or TIME, depending on whether a date or a time
interval is requested. This is followed by a subfunction that corresponds to the type of
values found in the data.
• The subfunctions are separated from the function by a period (.) and are followed by an
argument list specified in parentheses.
• The arguments to the DATE and TIME functions must be separated by commas and must
contain integer values.
DATE.DMY(d,m,y) Combine day, month, and year. The value of the argument for day
must be expressed as an integer between 1 and 31. The value of the
argument for month must be expressed as an integer between 1 and 13
(13 returns January of the following year). Years should be expressed
in four digits. For example, the command
COMPUTE BIRTHDAY=DATE.DMY(DAY,MONTH,YEAR).
stores the value of approximately 1.184E+10 in BIRTHDAY when DAY
is 8, MONTH is 11, and YEAR is 57. This value can be displayed with
a DATE9 format as 08-NOV-57.
DATE.MDY(m,d,y) Combine month, day, and year. This function follows the same rules
as DATE.DMY, except for the order of the arguments. For example, the
command
COMPUTE BIRTHDAY=DATE.MDY(MONTH,DAY,YEAR).
stores the same value as the previous example in BIRTHDAY for the
same values of MONTH, DAY, and YEAR. The value can be displayed
as 11/08/57 with an ADATE8 format.
DATE.YRDAY(y,d) Combine year and day of the year. The year can be expressed as either
two or four digits. Years should be expressed in four digits. The day
can be expressed as any integer between and including 1 and 366. For
example, the command
COMPUTE BIRTHDAY=DATE.YRDAY(1688,301).
when combined with a DATE11 print format produces the date
27-OCT-1688 for BIRTHDAY.
DATE.QYR(q,y) Combine quarter and year. The quarter must be expressed as a single
digit between and including 1 and 4. The year can contain two or
four digits. Years should be expressed in four digits. For example,
the command
COMPUTE QUART=DATE.QYR(QTR,YEAR).
with a QDATE6 print format produces a value of 4 Q 57 for QUART
when QTR is 4 and YEAR is 57. Since each quarter is assumed to begin