VARIABLES subcommand for ARRANGEMENT = FIXED (GET DATA command)

For fixed-format files, the VARIABLES subcommand specifies variable names, start and end column locations, and variable formats.

• Variable names must conform to variable naming rules. See the topic Variable Names for more information.
• Each variable name must be followed by column specifications. Start and end columns must be separated by a dash, as in 0-10.
• Column specifications must include both the start and end column positions, even if the width is only one column, as in 32-32.
• Each column specification must be followed by a format specification.
• Column numbering starts with 0, not 1 (in contrast to DATA LIST).

Multiple records. If each case spans more than one record (as specified with the FIXCASE subcommand), delimit variable specifications for each record with a slash (/) followed by the record number, as in:

  VARIABLES = /1 var1 0-10 F var2 11-20 DATE
  /2 var3 0-5 A var4 6-10 F
  /3 var5 0-20 A var6 21-30 DOLLAR