Fixed Number of Repeating Groups

The following table shows test score data for students in three classrooms. Each record contains a classroom number and two pairs of student ID and test score variables. For example, in class 101, student 182 has a score of 12 and student 134 has a score of 53. In class 103, student 15 has a score of 87 and student 203 has a score of 69. Each pair of ID and score variables is a repeating group, since these variables appear twice on each record.

Table 1. Data in REPEAT.DAT file
Class ID Score ID Score
101 182 12 134 53
102 99 112 200 150
103 15 87 203 69

The following commands generate a active dataset in which one case is built for each occurrence of SCORE and ID, and classroom number is spread to each case on a record. 

INPUT PROGRAM. 
DATA LIST /  CLASS 3-5. 
REPEATING DATA STARTS=6 / OCCURS=2     
 /DATA STUDENT 1-4 SCORE 5-8.
END INPUT PROGRAM. 

BEGIN DATA
  101 182  12 134  53  
  102  99 112 200 150 
  103  15  87 203  69 
END DATA.

LIST.
  • INPUT PROGRAM signals the beginning of data definition.
  • DATA LIST defines variable CLASS, which is spread to each student on a classroom record.
  • REPEATING DATA specifies that the input file contains repeating data. STARTS indicates that repeating data begin in column 6. OCCURS specifies that the repeating data group occurs twice in each record.
  • DATA defines variables that are repeated (STUDENT and SCORE). The program begins reading the first repeating data group in column 6 (the value of STARTS). Since the value of OCCURS is 2, the program reads the repeating variables a second time, beginning in the next available column (column 14).
  • END INPUT PROGRAM signals the end of data definition.
  • BEGIN DATA and END DATA specify that data are inline.
  • The output from LIST is shown below. Each student is a separate case.
Figure 1. LIST output for repeating data
CLASS STUDENT SCORE
 101     182     12
 101     134     53
 102      99    112
 102     200    150
 103      15     87
 103     203     69