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.
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.