SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

ADD FILES
ADD FILES FILE={file}
{* }
[/RENAME=(old varnames=new varnames)...]
[/IN=varname]
/FILE=... [/RENAME=...] [/IN=...]
[/BY varlist]
[/MAP]
[/KEEP={ALL** }] [/DROP=varlist]
{varlist}
[/FIRST=varname] [/LAST=varname]
**Default if the subcommand is omitted.
Example
ADD FILES FILE=SCHOOL1 /FILE=SCHOOL2.
Overview
Options
ADD FILES combines cases from 2 up to 50 SPSS-format data files by concatenating or
interleaving cases. When cases are concatenated, all cases from one file are added to the
end of all cases from another file. When cases are interleaved, cases in the resulting file are
ordered according to the values of one or more key variables.
The files specified on ADD FILES can be SPSS-format data files created by the SAVE or
XSAVE commands or the working data file. The combined file becomes the new working
file. Statistical procedures following ADD FILES use this combined file unless you replace
it by building another working file. You must use the SAVE or XSAVE commands if you
want to save the combined file as an SPSS-format data file.
In general, ADD FILES is used to combine files containing the same variables but
different cases. To combine files containing the same cases but different variables, use
MATCH FILES. To update existing SPSS-format data files, use UPDATE. ADD FILES cannot
concatenate raw data files. To concatenate raw data files, use DATA LIST within an INPUT
PROGRAM structure (see p. 422 for an example). Alternatively, convert the raw data files
to SPSS-format data files with the SAVE or XSAVE commands and then use ADD FILES to
combine them.
Variable Selection. You can specify which variables from each input file are included in the
new working file using the DROP and KEEP subcommands.
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