NEWNAMES Subcommand (FLIP command)

NEWNAMES specifies a variable whose values are used as the new variable names.

  • The NEWNAMES subcommand is optional. If it is not used, the new variable names are either VAR001 to VARn, or the values of CASE_LBL if it exists.
  • Only one variable can be specified on NEWNAMES.
  • The variable specified on NEWNAMES does not become an observation (case) in the new active dataset, regardless of whether it is specified on the VARIABLES subcommand.
  • If the variable specified is numeric, its values become a character string beginning with the prefixK_.
  • Characters not allowed in variables names, such as blank spaces, are replaced with underscore (_) characters.
  • If the variable’s values are not unique, unique variable names are created by appending a sequential suffix of the general form _A, _B, _C,..._AA, _AB, _AC,..._AAA, _AAB, _AAC,...etc.

Example

Using the untransposed file from the first example, the command

FLIP NEWNAMES=A.

uses the values for variable A as variable names in the new file. The LIST output for the transposed file is as follows:

CASE_LBL    INCOME     PRICE      YEAR
 
B            22.00     34.00   1970.00
C            31.00     29.00   1971.00
D            43.00     50.00   1972.00
  • Variable A does not become an observation in the new file. The string values for A are converted to upper case.

The following command transposes this file back to a form resembling its original structure:

FLIP.

The LIST output for the transposed file is as follows:


CASE_LBL       B         C         D
 
INCOME     22.00     31.00     43.00
PRICE      34.00     29.00     50.00
YEAR     1970.00   1971.00   1972.00
  • Since the NEWNAMES subcommand is not used, the values of CASE_LBL from the previous FLIP (B, C, and D) are used as variable names in the new file.
  • The values of CASE_LBL are now INCOME, PRICE, and YEAR.