SPSS Recode

Contents

  1. SPSS Recode
    1. Numeric Variables
    2. String Variables
    3. Type Conversion

Numeric Variables

String Variables

Values are compared to recode instructions with an implicit rtrim call (i.e. trailing whitespace is not compared).

SPSS will also emit a warning if a recode instruction includes a value that is too long to possibly be found within the variable.

Type Conversion

To convert a numeric variable into a string, try: 

recode numeric_zip_code (0="NULL") (sysmis="") (convert) into string_zip_code.

Note that specific values can be handled differently by including a recode instruction ahead of the convert instruction.

To convert a string variable into a number, try: 

recode string_zip_code ("NULL"=0) (""=sysmis) (convert) into numeric_zip_code.

Note that non-numeric values (including blank values) must be handled explicitly by including a recode instruction ahead of the convert instruction, or they will all be replaced with the system missing value and a warning will be emitted.

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