Workspace Node: Match Cases - Specifications Tab

The Match Cases workspace node can be accessed from the Feature Finder, ribbon bar, or Node Browser. Double-click the node to display the specifications dialog box.

The Match Cases method of merging files matches the cases from the second file with those of the first file based on the case names. For each case in both files, Statistica checks the case names and merges them if their respective case names match.

Output. In this group box, select the variables to merge from the two data files.

Element Name Description
File 1 Variables Click this button to display a variable selection dialog box containing variables from the first data file; select the desired variables for the output file.
File 2 Variables Click this button to display a variable selection dialog box containing variables from the second data file; select the desired variables to merge into the output file.
Match Criteria By These options determine the criterion for matching cases.
Numeric Select this option button to match cases by the numeric value of the case name.
Text Select this option button to match cases by the text value of the case name.
Auto Select this option button to automatically choose the appropriate criterion (Numeric or Text) based on the contents of the case names.
Unmatched Cases Select an option to specify the manner of dealing with unmatched cases when the two files are merged. Unmatched cases may result from unequal numbers of cases in the merged files, or because some of the cases do not meet the relational merge criteria.
Fill with MD Select this option button to pad unmatched cases with missing data.
Delete cases When this option button is selected, cases from either file that cannot be matched will be removed from the merged file.
Generate Cartesian Select this option button to create a cross product between every unmatched case against every other case, i.e., if a unique case is found in only File 1 or File 2, every combination of that case against every other case will be created.
Abort merge When this option button is selected, the presence of unmatched cases in either file will cause an error message to be displayed and the merge procedure to be abandoned.
Multiple Cases Select an option to specify what to do if duplicate matching cases are encountered.
Fill with MD When this option button is selected, the file will be padded with missing data in the duplicate cases that were matched.
Copy down When this option button is selected, a Cartesian product will be generated for duplicate matches of the same value.
Drop Multiples Use the options in this group box to specify how duplicate cases in the file should be handled.
File 1 When this check box is selected, duplicate cases from the File 1 data set will not be included.
File 2 When this check box is selected, duplicate cases from the File 2 data file will not be included.
Input Order This group box contains options to specify the order of the output.
Preserve Input Order In Output When this check box is selected, the output order will match the input order.
File 1 Data are sorted When this check box is selected, Statistica expects the first input spreadsheet to be sorted by case.
File 2 Data are sorted When this check box is selected, Statistica expects the second input spreadsheet to be sorted by case.

Options. See Common Options.

OK Click the OK button to accept all the specifications made in the dialog box and to close it. To view the new spreadsheet, click the icon on the lower-right corner of the Concatenate Variables node.

See also, Home tab.