In SPSS, how do I concatenate files?
In SPSS, use the ADD FILES command to concatenate or
append two or more data files. The files must be SPSS system files. To
concatenate them simply, list the files to be merged using the
/FILES subcommand. The concatenation follows the order of
the files specified.
The first example adds three files called PART1.sav,
PART2.sav, and PART3.sav in the
c:\spssdata directory:
You can also index the files on a specific variable (such as case
ID) if you wish; this is called interleaving files. The files are organized
on the variable ID, so that the final saved data set is indexed
according to this shared variable. Notice that the order of the files
read into SPSS is reversed, but the final product is the same due to
the /BY subcommand.
For more about statistical and mathematical software, email the UITS Stat/Math Center, visit the center's web page, or phone 812-855-4724 (IUB) or 317-278-4740 (IUPUI). The center is located in Bloomington at 410 N. Park Avenue, and is open for consultation by appointment Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
Last modified on May 24, 2011.
