Text variables
By default, the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC sets both the format width and the number of columns of the corresponding IBM SPSS Statistics string variable to the value of the MDM variable's EffectiveMaxValue property.
Changing the format of the IBM SPSS Statistics variable
To change the format of the IBM SPSS Statistics variable, set the
Width and
Max properties (see
Properties and settings used by the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC) on the MDM text variable before you write the
.sav file.
Setting the width of string variables
To set the default width of all string variables in the .sav file, use the DefTextVarSize property.
To set the maximum width of all string variables in the
.sav file, use the
MaxTextVarSize property: see
Properties and settings used by the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC.
Using IBM SPSS Statistics 12 or earlier
If you intend to read your .sav file using IBM SPSS Statistics 12 or earlier, be aware that string variables had a limit of 255 bytes in those versions of IBM SPSS Statistics, and they truncate any string value that exceeds that limit.
See also