SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

KEYED DATA LIST
KEYED DATA LIST KEY=varname IN=varname
FILE=file [{TABLE }]
{NOTABLE}
/varname {col location [(format)]} [varname ..]
{(FORTRAN-like format) }
Example
FILE HANDLE EMPL/ file specifications.
KEYED DATA LIST FILE=EMPL KEY=#NXTCASE IN=#FOUND
/YRHIRED 1-2 SEX 3 JOBCLASS 4.
Overview
KEYED DATA LIST reads raw data from two types of nonsequential files: direct-access files,
which provide direct access by a record number, and keyed files, which provide access by
a record key. An example of a direct-access file is a file of 50 records, each corresponding
to one of the United States. If you know the relationship between the states and the record
numbers, you can retrieve the data for any specific state. An example of a keyed file is a file
containing social security numbers and other information about a firm’s employees. The
social security number can be used to identify the records in the file.
Direct-Access Files
There are various types of direct-access files. This program’s concept of a direct-access file,
however, is very specific. The file must be one from which individual records can be selected
according to their number. The records in a 100-record direct-access file, for example, are
numbered from 1 to 100.
Although the concept of record number applies to almost any file, not all files can be
treated by this program as direct-access files. In fact, some operating systems provide no
direct-access capabilities at all, and others permit only a narrowly defined subset of all files
to be treated as direct access.
Very few files turn out to be good candidates for direct-access organization. In the case
of an inventory file, for example, the usual large gaps in the part numbering sequence would
result in large amounts of wasted file space. Gaps are not a problem, however, if they are
predictable. For example, if you recognize that telephone area codes have first digits of 2
through 9, second digits of 0 or 1, and third digits of 0 through 9, you can transform an area
code into a record number by using the following COMPUTE statement:
COMPUTE RECNUM = 20*(DIGIT1-2) + 10*DIGIT2 + DIGIT3 + 1.
where DIGIT1, DIGIT2, and DIGIT3 are variables corresponding to the respective digits in the
area code, and RECNUM is the resulting record number. The record numbers would range
781