Data Windows

The Data Menu

The data pop-up menu provides a variety of ways to manipulate your data. Display the data pop-up menu by clicking on the button in the upper left corner of the data window.

Figure 31.10: Displaying the Data Pop-up Menu

[menu]
Figure 31.11: Data Pop-up Menu

Choose Find Next to scroll the data window to the next selected observation. If no observations are selected, it scrolls the data window one observation. Choose Move to First to move selected observations to the top of the data window and to move selected variables to the left side of the data window. Choose Move to Last to move selected observations to the bottom of the data window and to move selected variables to the right side of the data window.

Note In addition to Move to First and Move to Last, you can use the hand tool to move variables and observations. Drag on the column or row heading, then release the mouse at the new location.

Choose Sort to sort observations on one or more variables. If any variables are selected, your data are sorted in ascending order on the unformatted values of those variables. If no variables are selected, you are prompted with a dialog to select some.

Figure 31.12: Sort Dialog

In the dialog, select variables and click the Y button to assign variables to the sort list. You can select variables in the sort list and click the Asc/Des and Unf/For buttons to toggle the sort order and formatting. If you select multiple variables for the sort, they are used in the order in which you select them. Choose New Observations to add space to enter values for new observations. Choose New Variables to add space To enter values for new variables. Choose Define Variables to display the dialog in Figure 31.13. Use this dialog to set variable type, default roles, measurement level, name, and label.

Figure 31.13: Define Variables Dialog

Choose Fill Values to modify data values in the data window. Choose Extract to create a new data window from an existing data window. You can Extract any subset of your data. If you have variables, observations, or values selected, your selections are extracted to fill the new data window. If you have no selections, you are prompted to select variables. Choose Data Options to set options that control the appearance and operation of the data window.

Related
Reading Fill Values, Data Options, Chapter 2.

Related
Reading Find, Move to First, Sort, Chapter 3.

Related
Reading Define Variables, Chapter 8, Chapter 15, Chapter 22.