Overview (DATA LIST command)

DATA LIST defines a text data file by assigning names and formats to each variable in the file. Text data can be inline (entered with your commands between BEGIN DATA and END DATA) or stored in an external file. They can be in fixed format (values for the same variable are always entered in the same location on the same record for each case) or in freefield format (values for consecutive variables are not in particular columns but are entered one after the other, separated by a specified delimiter).

For information on defining matrix materials, see MATRIX DATA. For information on defining complex data files that cannot be defined with DATA LIST, see FILE TYPE and REPEATING DATA. For information on reading IBM® SPSS® Statistics data files and portable files, see GET and IMPORT.

The program can also read data files created by other software applications. Commands that read these files include GET CAPTURE and GET TRANSLATE.

Options

Data Source. You can use inline data or data from an external file.

Data Formats. You can define numeric (with or without decimal places) and string variables using an array of input formats (percent, dollar, date and time, and so forth). You can also specify column binary and unaligned positive integer binary formats (available only if used with the MODE=MULTIPUNCH setting on the FILE HANDLE command).

Data Organization. You can define data that are in fixed format (values in the same location on the same record for each case), in freefield format with multiple cases per record, or in freefield format with one case on each record using the FIXED, FREE, and LIST keywords.

Multiple Records. For fixed-format data, you can indicate the number of records per case on the RECORDS subcommand. You can specify which records to read in the variable definition portion of DATA LIST.

Summary Table. For fixed-format data, you can display a table that summarizes the variable definitions using the TABLE subcommand. You can suppress this table using NOTABLE.

Value Delimiter. For freefield-format data (keywords FREE and LIST), you can specify the character(s) that separate data values, or you can use the keyword TAB to specify the tab character as the delimiter. Any delimiter other than the TAB keyword must be enclosed in quotation marks, and the specification must be enclosed in parentheses, as in DATA LIST FREE(",").

End-of-File Processing. You can specify a logical variable that indicates the end of the data using the END subcommand. This logical variable can be used to invoke special processing after all the cases from the data file have been read.

Basic Specification

  • The basic specification is the FIXED, LIST, or FREE keyword followed by a slash that signals the beginning of variable definition.
  • FIXED is the default.
  • If the data are in an external file, the FILE subcommand must be used.
  • If the data are inline, the FILE subcommand is omitted and the data are specified between the BEGIN DATA and END DATA commands.
  • Variable definition for fixed-format data includes a variable name, a column location, and a format (unless the default numeric format is used). The column location is not specified if FORTRAN-like formats are used, since these formats include the variable width.
  • Variable definition for freefield data includes a variable name and, optionally, a delimiter specification and a FORTRAN-like format specification. If format specifications include a width and number of decimal positions (for example, F8.2), the width and decimal specifications are not used to read the data but are assigned as print and write formats for the variables.

Subcommand Order

Subcommands can be named in any order. However, all subcommands must precede the first slash, which signals the beginning of variable definition.

Syntax Rules

Subcommands on DATA LIST are separated by spaces or commas, not by slashes.