Finding and replacing data and attribute values

To find and/or replace data values in the Data tab:

  1. Enter a search string or term in the Find data field.

    or

  2. Press Ctrl + F (Windows) or Cmd + F (macOS).
  3. Optionally, click the advanced search settings control to define find and replace settings, select match criteria, define case sensitivity, and search only selected variables.
    Advanced search control

Data tab notes

  • You cannot search up in the Data tab. The search direction is always down.
  • For dates and times, the formatted values are searched as displayed. For example, a date displayed as 10/28/2007 will not be found by a search for a date of 10-28-2007.
  • For other numeric variables, Contains, Begins with, and Ends with search formatted values. For example, with the Begins with option, a search value of $123 for a Dollar format variable will find both $123.00 and $123.40 but not $1,234. With the Entire cell option, the search value can be formatted or unformatted (simple F numeric format), but only exact numeric values (to the precision displayed in the Data tab) are matched.
  • The numeric system-missing value is represented by a single period (.) To find system-missing values, enter a single period as the search value and select Entire cell.
  • If value labels are displayed for the selected variable column, the label text is searched, not the underlying data value, and you cannot replace the label text.

Variables tab notes

  • Find is only available for the Name, Label, Values, Missing, and custom variable attribute columns.
  • Replace is only available for the Label, Values, and custom attribute columns.
  • In the Value labels column, the search string can match either the data value or a value label.
    Note: Replacing the data value will delete any previous value label associated with that value.