*(Q) How can I read comma delimited fields when quoted strings contain commas? * (A) Posted by rlevesque@videotron.ca to SPSSX-L on 2001/11/03. * (Note: use FILE HANDLE if records lenght are too large). * Read the data as a single string. DATA LIST FIXED /str1 1-80 (A). BEGIN DATA 1,"6159905","XYZ Agency, City Middle School",0,,,0,1 2,"4444","ABC Company,, My City,",1,2,3,4,5 END DATA. LIST. * replace the commas delimiting fields by ~ (or any other char not already present in the data). * commas inside quotes are left unchanged. COMPUTE #inside=-1. LOOP cnt=1 TO 80. IF SUBSTR(str1,cnt,1)="," & #inside=-1 SUBSTR(str1,cnt,1)="~". IF SUBSTR(str1, cnt,1)='"' #inside=#inside*-1. END LOOP. *Write the new text file where fields are separated by ~. WRITE OUTFILE='c:\\temp\\data.txt' /str1. EXECUTE. * Read back the new text file. NEW FILE. DATA LIST FILE='c:\\temp\\data.txt' LIST('~') / id(f8.2) nb(A10) addr(A50) var1(f8.2) var2(f8.2) var3(f8.2) var4(f8.2) var5(f8.2). LIST.