merging two string variables results in empty value

user_13239031 0
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I'd like to merge two string variables (STRING_VAR1 and STRING_VAR2) into one string variable STRING_ALL, such that the content of STRING_VAR1 or STRING_VAR2 is copied into STRING_ALL depending on which of those two variables contain any data (see example_dataset). If both variables STRING_VAR1 and STRING_VAR2 contain missing cases, STRING_ALL should be missing as well.

I've tried CONCAT (see code below) but that doesn't work for some reason and leaves me with only empty cases for STRING_ALL.

STRING STRING_ALL(A4)
COMPUTE STRING_ALL = CONCAT(STRING_VAR1, STRING_VAR2)

Thanks in advance!

spss merge string
1 Answers

Eli's suggestion gave you the necessary information to solve this specific issue. If you want to know why, check the Command Order topic in the SPSS Statistics Command Syntax Reference. It discusses the different types of commands and the fact that some of them, such as COMPUTE, do not take effect immediately, but are stored pending execution of a command that causes a data pass.

user_96754010
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