Overview (GET command)

GET reads IBM® SPSS® Statistics data files. It also reads SPSS/PC+ data files, but you should not read SPSS/PC+ data files in Unicode mode (see Operations below).

GET is used only for reading IBM SPSS Statistics data files. See DATA LIST for information on reading and defining data in a text data file. See MATRIX DATA for information on defining matrix materials in a text data file. For information on defining complex data files that cannot be defined with DATA LIST alone, see FILE TYPE and REPEATING DATA.

The program can also read data files created for other software applications. See IMPORT for information on reading portable files created with EXPORT. See the relevant commands, such as GET DATA, GET STATA, and GET SAS, for information on reading files created by other software programs.

Options

Variable Subsets and Order. You can read a subset of variables and reorder the variables that are copied into the active dataset using the DROP and KEEP subcommands.

Variable Names. You can rename variables as they are copied into the active dataset with the RENAME subcommand. Long variable names are supported when explicitly specified on the /VARIABLES subcommand. Variable names are truncated to 8 bytes when they are referenced through a vector in the /NAMES subcommand.

Variable Map. To confirm the names and order of variables in the active dataset, use the MAP subcommand.

Basic Specification

  • The basic specification is the FILE subcommand, which specifies the IBM SPSS Statistics data file to be read.

Subcommand Order

  • FILE must be specified first.
  • The remaining subcommands can be specified in any order.

Syntax Rules

  • FILE is required and can be specified only once.
  • KEEP, DROP, RENAME, and MAP can be used as many times as needed.
  • GET cannot be used inside a DO IF—END IF or LOOP—END LOOP structure.

Operations

  • If KEEP is not specified, variables in the active dataset are in the same order as the original data file.
  • A file saved with weighting in effect maintains weighting the next time the file is accessed. For a discussion of turning off weights, see WEIGHT.
  • In Unicode mode, for code page data files and data files created in releases prior to 16.0, the defined width of string variables in tripled. You can use ALTER TYPE to automatically adjust the width of all string variables.See SET command, UNICODE subcommand for more information.
  • In Unicode mode, SPSS/PC+ data files may not be read correctly.
  • SPSS/PC+ data files can be read only on Windows operating systems.