Say we try to read a raw data file with DATA LIST that is over 1024
columns wide as shown in the example below.
DATA LIST FILE="small" FIXED /
id 1 age 2-3
<some program omitted to save space>
HISP 4925-4925 HOMEOWN3 4926-4926 HSDIV 4927-4927 HSREG 4928-4928
EDATTAiN 4929-4930 FAMFOR86 4931-4932.
SPSS will give us the following error, indicating that it is reading only up
to column 1024 (even though our data file in this example has 4932 columns).
>Warning # 1100 >A data element conversion on the indicated command will go past the end of >the record. Check the data list and the data file. The result has been >set to the system-missing value. >Command line: 2 Current case: 1 Current splitfile group: 1 >Record number: 1 Starting column: 1026 Record length: 1024
To tell SPSS that the raw data file is 4932 columns wide, we need to use the file
handle statement like shown below.
file handle test /name="small" /recform=fixed /lrecl=4932.
DATA LIST FILE=test FIXED /
id 1 age 2-3
<some program omitted to save space>
HISP 4925-4925 HOMEOWN3 4926-4926 HSDIV 4927-4927 HSREG 4928-4928
EDATTAiN 4929-4930 FAMFOR86 4931-4932.