Syntax for replacing chars in variable names?

Question

I've got a problem with a bunch of SPSS files. Several of the variable names contains a '.' (dot) that I need to replace with underscore for SQL purposes.

I know there is the command RENAME VARIABLE (varx = vara). So I'm thinking that there must be an "easy" way to loop through all variables and simply replace what I need replaced.

Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea of how SPSS Syntax works or if I need to use a macro.

It's a pain to do this manually, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You could try a solution "Remove underscores from all variable names.SPS" by Raynald Levesque. It requires some changes to work for your case. There are more solutions available at www.spsstools.net.