9.4.3.2 Reading Fixed Columnar Data

GET DATA /TYPE=TXT
        /FILE={’file_name’,file_handle}
        [/ARRANGEMENT={DELIMITED,FIXED}]
        [/FIRSTCASE={first_case}]
        [/IMPORTCASE={ALL,FIRST max_cases,PERCENT percent}]

        [/FIXCASE=n]
        /VARIABLES fixed_var [fixed_var]…
            [/rec# fixed_var [fixed_var]…]…
where each fixed_var takes the form:
        variable start-end format

The GET DATA command with TYPE=TXT and ARRANGEMENT=FIXED reads input data from text files in fixed format, where each field is located in particular fixed column positions within records of a case. Its capabilities are similar to those of DATA LIST FIXED (see DATA LIST FIXED), with a few enhancements.

The required FILE subcommand and optional FIRSTCASE and IMPORTCASE subcommands are described above (see Textual Data Files).

The optional FIXCASE subcommand may be used to specify the positive integer number of input lines that make up each case. The default value is 1.

The VARIABLES subcommand, which is required, specifies the positions at which each variable can be found. For each variable, specify its name, followed by its start and end column separated by ‘-’ (e.g.0-9’), followed by an input format type (e.g.F’) or a full format specification (e.g.DOLLAR12.2’). For this command, columns are numbered starting from 0 at the left column. Introduce the variables in the second and later lines of a case by a slash followed by the number of the line within the case, e.g./2’ for the second line.

Examples

Consider the following data on used cars:

model   year    mileage price   type    age
Civic   2002    29883   15900   Si      2
Civic   2003    13415   15900   EX      1
Civic   1992    107000  3800    n/a     12
Accord  2002    26613   17900   EX      1

The following syntax can be used to read the used car data:

GET DATA /TYPE=TXT /FILE='cars.data' /ARRANGEMENT=FIXED /FIRSTCASE=2
        /VARIABLES=model 0-7 A
                   year 8-15 F
                   mileage 16-23 F
                   price 24-31 F
                   type 32-40 A
                   age 40-47 F.