User Guide

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Chapter 6
Missing Values. Missing values are values identified as representing missing data (for
example, 98 for Do not know and99forNot applicable). Typically, these values also
have define
d value labels that describe what the missing value codes stand for. Any
existing defined missing values for the target variable are deleted and replaced with
the defined missing values from the source variable.
Variable La
bel.
Descriptive variable labels can contain spaces and reserved characters
not allowed in variable names. If you’re copying variable properties from a single
source variable to multiple target variables, you might want to think twice before
selecting
this option.
Measurement Level. The measurement level can be nominal, ordinal, or scale. For
those procedures that distinguish between different measurement levels, nominal and
ordinal a
re both considered categorical.
Formats. For numeric variables, this controls numeric type (such as numeric, date, or
currency), width (total number of displayed characters, including leading and trailing
characte
rs and decimal indicator), and number of decimal places displayed. This
option is ignored for string variables.
Alignment. This affects only alignment (left, right, center) in the Data view in the
Data Edi
tor.
Data Editor Column Width. This affects only column width in the Data view in the
Data Editor.
Copying Dataset (File) Properties
You can apply selected, global dataset properties from the source data file to the
working data file. (This is not available if the working data file is the source data file.)