SPSS Code Fragment
A few SPSS loops for renaming variables dynamically

On this page, we show a few SPSS loops for dynamically renaming variables.  The following are code fragments intended for use by more advanced SPSS users.  Although they may look complex, only small changes are needed to adapt these loops for your data.  In these examples, we modify only the first few of the names, but you can rename all of them by modifying the !rename command.

Scenario number 1

We have a list of variables and a list for the new names of these variables.  In the example below, we want to rename variables faminc1 and faminc2 to be a and b for no particular reason. 

data list free 
/famid faminc1 to faminc12.
begin data
1 3281 3413 3114 2500 2700 3500 3114 -999 3514 1282 2434 2818
2 4042 3084 3108 3150 -999 3100 1531 2914 3819 4124 4274 4471
3 6015 6123 6113 -999 6100 6200 6186 6132 -999 4231 6039 6215
end data.

define !rename1 (olist = !charend('/')
                        /nlist=!cmdend )

!let !rest = !nlist
!do !vname !in (!olist) 
!let !nname=!head(!rest)
!let !rest = !tail(!rest)
rename variables (!vname = !nname).
!doend
!enddefine.

!rename1 olist = faminc1 faminc2
              /nlist = a b .

Scenario number 2

We have a list of variables, and the name for each variable consists of the original name plus a common suffix.  For example, we are going to rename variables faminc1 faminc2 and faminc3 to be faminc1_new, faminc2_new and faminc3_new below. 

data list free 
/famid faminc1 to faminc12.
begin data
1 3281 3413 3114 2500 2700 3500 3114 -999 3514 1282 2434 2818
2 4042 3084 3108 3150 -999 3100 1531 2914 3819 4124 4274 4471
3 6015 6123 6113 -999 6100 6200 6186 6132 -999 4231 6039 6215
end data.

define !rename2 (vlist = !charend('/')
                        /suffix=!cmdend )

!do !vname !in (!vlist) 
!let !nname = !concat(!vname, !suffix)
rename variables (!vname = !nname).
!doend
!enddefine.

!rename2 vlist = faminc1 faminc2 faminc3
              /suffix = _new .

Scenario number 3

We have a list of variables defined by a prefix followed by an index number.  We are going to change the prefix and still use the same index order.  For example, we are going to rename variables faminc1-faminc5 to be test1-test5. 

data list free 
/famid faminc1 to faminc12.
begin data
1 3281 3413 3114 2500 2700 3500 3114 -999 3514 1282 2434 2818
2 4042 3084 3108 3150 -999 3100 1531 2914 3819 4124 4274 4471
3 6015 6123 6113 -999 6100 6200 6186 6132 -999 4231 6039 6215
end data.

define !rename3 (oldprefix = !charend('/')
                        /newprefix=!charend('/')
                        /n = !cmdend )

!do !var = 1 !to !n
   !let !oldname = !concat(!oldprefix, !var)
   !let !newname = !concat(!newprefix, !var)
   rename variables (!oldname = !newname).
!doend
!enddefine.

!rename3 oldprefix = faminc
              /newprefix  = test
              /n=5 .