Change a string variable to a numeric variable duration. Second, i dont think the original variable isnt a valid spss date format because the datetime format is unfortunately somewhat rigid and only recognizes dates of the general format dmy, not mdy. I have a data file which contains string variables only. The entire 20 character result can be seen by increasing the length of full to 20 characters by using alter type in step 5. Auto recode, and user missing vs system missing duration. In the example above, a8 indicates a string variable eight. Rtrim right trim remove right trailing spaces or, rarely, other characters. Note that lowest, highest, and sysmis are considered to be numeric values. If a variable is included in more than one variable list on the same.
String functions that include a byte position or count argument or return a byte. This will create a new variable that takes the first 10 characters from your old date variable. Changing width of string variables in spss youtube. Quickly master the trick with a stepbystep example on downloadable practice data. How can i change a string variable into a numeric variable.
In code page mode, if strexpr is a string variable, use rtrim if you only want the actual string value without the rightpadding to the defined variable width. Selecting cases form string variable showing 15 of 5 messages. You could do that, but if all of your missing variable strings are coded as 66, i would just make a new set of variables, recode the 66. Recoding multiple string variables in spss automatic recoding.
Therefore, concatenating 3 strings with length 20 results in a string with length 60. Check that the columns dont contain any unintended characters. This merge is adding records and not variables, so each data file has the exact same variable names. Creating separate lists of numeric and string variables.
The string variables represent answers to multiple response questions and are either dichotomous or categorical answers coded as strings. Hence, substssn, 1, 3 tells spss to use the variable ssn, start at the first position in the variable and take three characters. To compute string variables, the general syntax is virtually identical. I need to extract the last character from my string variable first name, which has a. In this case, spss discards the last 10 characters that dont fit into this string. If there are many more names you might prefer to use standard variable names instead, and add the actual names in the labels instead.
Computing variables spss tutorials libguides at kent state. The target variable for each string function must be a string and must have. Like so, working with string variables in spss is super easy. So for instance if i wanted to replace all the numbers with nothing in a string field i could use this code below where origfield is the original field with the numbers contained, and cleanfield is the subsequent cleaned variable. One way is to use the number function with the compute command. Reshaping data wide to long in versions 11 and up spss. That way you only have to compute it once, instead of 3 times. Spssx discussion how to truncate a variable in spss. Note that spss statistics is compatible with windows, mac, and linux operating systems, but spss amos is only compatible with windows. Since the default variable type in spss is numeric, you need to define your string variable in advance. The format family is indicated by one or more letters. How do i create and modify string character variables.
Shorten character variables to their minimum required length this sample code below finds the maximum length of each character variable in the data set, writes a data step that issues new length and format statements. Spss macro to examine string variables recoding data. If blanks are not specified, the values are rightpadded. Ibm i cannot use string variables for creating a multiple. Written and illustrated tutorials for the statistical software spss. Ibm fss fci and counter fraud management 2,364 views.
The clearest way is to use the substring function to compute a new variable that is the first three characters of the string. Spss will perform what in database terms is termed an outerjoin. Number of people has entries like 5 people instead of simply 5. If we had written the subcommand as index year the values given in the variable year would have been 1, 2 and 3. May 19, 2014 while not obvious, spss has some simple syntax that makes it easy to search through your string variables looking for key wordsphrases. Dec 18, 2007 shalom a simple way to do what you need is to export all you file an reread them. To do this, you need to create a new variable using the compute command. In spss, how do i convert between numeric variables and. This will get you started, but you can get all the specifics in the formats section of the command syntax reference, which is included in the spss help.
You cant use numeric functions such as addition or subtraction on string variables. Add variables merges the active dataset with another open dataset or external ibm spss statistics data file that contains the same cases rows but different variables columns. However, most names are shorter than thirty characters. Jul 17, 2008 first, the original variable isnt a date. You can, however, extract one or more characters a substring from them, glue them together concatenate and a couple of other functions. The string variable needs to be the same width in each data file and needs to be sorted the same ascending. Each variable list must be followed by a format specification enclosed in parentheses. Of course, the new variable is a string, so you would need to convert it to a date.
You are starting down the path of regular expression processing of strings. Patients name new name annis, david dav armour, stephen ste jacko, rick ric a posted by ray to spssxl list on 20020124. While not obvious, spss has some simple syntax that makes it easy to search through your string variables looking for key wordsphrases. Dear spss listers, i have data that is coded in this fashion bwt 7.
Jun 08, 2014 merging data files together with a key variable that is a string is not fun in spss. How to count number of digits in variable stack overflow. I used this syntax, but it returns with 0 valid and all missing values. In spss, to convert a numeric variable to a string variable, use the string function. You could do that, but if all of your missing variable strings are coded as 66, i would just make a new set of variables, recode the 66 to a blank string, and then concatenate the variables all. Browse other questions tagged string spss textextraction or ask your own question. The problem is that most of the variables are string format and for some reason there are different widths for these variables in the corresponding data sets. This is not a variable that will be used in to split the file in spss statistics.
Note that we first had to use the string command to tell spss that up lo and sub are string variables that will have a length of up to 14 characters. Numeric type numeric variables contain values that are in number form, like in scientific notation or standard format. Merging data files together with a key variable that is a string is not fun in spss. Spss tutorials home libguides at kent state university. How to extract the last valid character from a string variable. These wildcards immediately prefix or suffix without any. The string variable needs to be the same width in each. Hi i need to shorten the length of a bunch of variables at once, over 100. Obviously string variables cannot be used in procedures that perform computations on the data. You can process one or more character strings and produce either a new character string or a character representation of a numeric result. The width of a variable is the number of characters spss will allow to. Learn the format and type of spss variables and get in control of your data. Spss files save variable definitions and formats with the data. For example, you might want to merge a data file that contains pretest results with one that contains posttest results.
Default behavior is to return to the end of the string if omitted. This code will work perfectly on both windows or mac. However, when i click on analyze multiple response define variable sets i get a popup window with a warning. See the topic string manipulation functions define.
For string variables, in unicode mode this is the number of bytes in each value, excluding trailing blanks, but in code page mode this is the defined variable length, including trailing blanks. If you select a string variable, you can tell spss how much room to leave in memory for each value, indicating the number of characters to be allowed for data entry in this string variable. How do i keep the first 3 letters of the last name only in a new variable. All variables specified or implied in the variable lists must exist in the active dataset. There are several ways that you can change a string variable into a numeric variable.
Flag cases where a given string variable contains a given word. Wildcards can be added to concepts in rules in order to extend the matching capabilities. For information on valid format specifications, see variable types and formats. For my age question, the answer options are 1824, 2534 and so on the seventh option is 75 or older.
Spss licenses must be renewed yearly, typically in august. The asterisk wildcard can be placed before andor after a word to indicate how concepts can be matched. It also dictates what type of statistical analysis methods are appropriate for that data. Had we omitted the string command, these would have been treated as numeric variables, and when spss tried to assign a character value to the numeric variables. Type allows you to define string and numeric characteristics, others. In fact, the internal limit is defined in bytes, and since the mapping between bytes and characters can be complicated, the number of characters you can get away with is generally more than 256 maybe even 1024. For some of these counting operations long strings will be shortened. Programming and data management for ibm spss statistics 19.
However, the real problem is that the concatenation results in a string value of 20 characters for a 10 character string variable. Numeric variable numvar3 will have 6 digits total, with one after the decimal. Copyingrecoding string variables into new variable. Spss do if change variables for a selection of cases. However after i saved and reopened the file, the string width was now 24. Blog preventing the top security weaknesses found in. Create new string variable from two conditions in existing ame 3 what is the simplest way to recode a variable based on conditions of another variable in r. Using spss, i need to match 2 files on 2 variables id. Hello, i cannot open a data set in my intercooled stata version because one of the variables is a string with 102 characters and intercooled stata only allows for 80. Jul 09, 20 we can use a simple loop and the pib variable format in spss to clean out unwanted ascii codes in string characters. If you understand spss variable formats and types, it will help you in getting things done accurately and quickly. Concatenatemodify string variables raynalds spss tools. Why cant i see my variables in some of the spss dialog boxes.
To clarify, the official limit for length of lines read as syntax is 256 characters. But numeric variables have varied distinct formats that are often confused with variable types. These wildcards immediately prefix or suffix without any space separating the string and the asterisk. Hello spss experts, i have about 10 different data sets that i need to merge into one file. I need to count the number of digits in an spss numeric variable, and assign it to a different variable. Spss for mac os x provides a user interface that makes statistical analysis. Currently, kent states licensing agreement only permits spss to be used for teaching and research purposes. Third, you could write the file from excel to a text file text file and reading it into spss with a data list statement. Spss how to convert string variables into numeric ones.
Help needed with spss variable view statistics help. This tutorial covers the variable types that spss recognizes. If the replacement string is longer or shorter than the substring, the replacement is. How to convert multiple string varibles into numeric in spss. String variable widths triple after saving and reopening ibm spss. If all your files have the same variable name you will write all of them using the same write command, because they are string you should use the wides string in the write command, and consider using trim to insure that all string begin on the first column her. In spss, there are no other variable types other than numeric and string. If youre not at all familiar with spss syntax, then splitting the fields in excel before reading it into spss is by far. We can use a simple loop and the pib variable format in spss to clean out unwanted ascii codes in string characters. For example, you will see both numeric and string variables in the list of variables from which to choose. I have a dataset that has some variables that should be scales saved as string variables.
Variable types spss tutorials libguides at kent state. Spssx discussion trimming a numeric or string variables. The same can also be achieved with the data editor by changing the variable type. A variables type determines if a variable numeric or character, quantitative or qualitative. Using spss functions for making and recoding variables. Recoding variable in spss with syntax stack overflow. This is because spss automatically right pads string values with spaces to match the length of the string variable. Spss string function converts numeric values to string values.
Because the variable score is a string variable, we cannot calculate a mean, etc. This tells spss to put the values of year 96, 97 and 98 into the variable year. Variable formats in spss syntax the analysis factor. Returns the length of strexpr in bytes, which must be a string expression. Convert spss string variables into numeric ones the right way. Oct, 2006 you are starting down the path of regular expression processing of strings. Hello, you can save the file as csv in excel, then open it in spss. Most of them at up to 32 characters and i need to shorten them all by around 6 to 8 characters. Another difference is that on the index subcommand we have listed the variable created on the make subcommand, income, in parentheses. I tried converting it to a string and counting the length of the string with char. Ascertaining spss variable formats spss differentiates write and print formats. Dear all, i have a question regarding the data entry in the variable view of spss version 22 for mac. Will upgrading my mac result in the loss of my data. Spss 14 does not have an easy way to do this, but with spss 15, the bonus pack, provided initially to early adopters but generally available later, contains a regular expression processor that makes this type of thing very easy with programmability.
Strings can be used with most tabulating commands, like list, frequencies, crosstabs, report using all the possibilities of sorting, selecting etc. In the second example, recode is used to convert a string variable into a numeric variable, if the string only contains numerical digits. Dec 02, 2017 learn how to autorecode a string variable in spss. This tutorial shows how to compute new variables in spss using formulas. Q i have data file with a string variable containing patients first and last name.
A variable s type determines if a variable numeric or character, quantitative or qualitative. Hence, substssn, 1, 3 tells spss to use the variable ssn, start at the first position in. Patients name new name annis, david dav armour, stephen ste jacko. Returns a string that is the concatenation of all its arguments, which must evaluate to strings. Create new string variable from two conditions in existing ame.
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