Merge two or more files together (Add records)

The Merge option of Tools|Combine, Sort and Merge SPSS Files allows you to merge two or more data files (SPSS (*.sav) or comma delimited (*.csv)) and save the merged files as an SPSS (*.sav) data file. As an example, you might have one file that contains the first wave of a study and a second file that contains the second wave of a study and you want to merge these two files into one file so they can be processed together.

Add File

Choose Add File to browse to the location of the files you want to merge together.
If the selected file is a comma delimited (*.csv) file, you can choose whether to Use the first line as variable names using the dropdown menu in the Variable Names field when the comma delimited (*.csv) file is selected in the File list.
To select a comma delimited (*.csv) file choose Comma delimited (*.csv) from the dropdown menu of file types next to the File name field on the Open dialog.

When a comma delimited (*.csv) file is added, the default for this option is to Use the first line as variable names.

Remove File

Choose Remove File to remove files from the File list.

Move Up/Move Down

Use the Move Up and Move Down options to rearrange the order of the files in the File list. Multiple files (contiguous or non-contiguous) can be selected and moved at one time using these options.

Variable list

The Variable list box displays variables from all files added to the File list box.

Variable

The Variable column contains the variable name for all variables from all files added.

From

The From column shows which files in the file list contain the variable. ALL indicates the variable is found in all files from the File list. Otherwise, a numeric order representation of files is used. For example, if there are 3 files in the File list and the variable is only found in the 1st file and the 3rd file in the list, the From column will display 1,3 for that variable.

Include

The Include column defaults to Yes to include each variable in the output file.
You can select the dropdown list in the Include column to choose Yes or No for an individual variable.

If the Include column is set to No, the variable will not be included in the output file.
You can also highlight a group of variables (contiguous or non-contiguous) and right-click for a context menu that will allow you to change the Include setting for the selected variables.

Find a variable

Allows you to enter search criteria to locate a specific variable. This is especially useful when there are many variables in your data files and you only want to find a specific variable or group of variables.

Finds the next occurrence of the search value specified in Find a variable.

Show Next Non-Duplicate

Finds the next variable that is not found in all of the files from the File list.

Add

Choose Add to select a variable to be used as a Sort variable. The variable is added to the Sort list box with a default sort order of Ascending. To change the sort order for a selected variable, use the Ascending or Descending options below the Sort list box.

Remove

Choose Remove to remove a variable from the Sort list box. Multiple variables can be selected and removed at one time and the variables selected can be contiguous or non-contiguous.

Move Up/Move Down

Use the Move Up and Move Down options to rearrange the order of the variables in the Sort list box. Multiple variables (contiguous and non-contiguous) can be selected and moved at one time using these options.

Merge

Choose Merge to create the output file and display the output record count. The output file can only be saved as an SPSS (*.sav) data file.

Selecting the Close button will close the Merge dialog box.