How to concatenate quotes onto a string using spss macro syntax

I have an excel worksheet containing thousands of file paths. I have imported them into an spss dataset. The goal is to rename the all the files that live within those paths. My plan is to run a mass GET FILE / SAVE OUTFILE loop to get it done. I already have code that 99% works.

The problem is that the file paths do not import from excel with quotations around them. So when I run my GET/SAVE macro there are no quotations around the file paths and the GET FILE can not run. I can not figure out the best way to add quotes around the file paths.

Here is the macro code I am using for the loop. Probably not the most efficient, but it does what I need.

SET MPRINT=no.

DEFINE !GETPATH (FPATH=!TOKENS(1) 
                 /VARG=!TOKENS(1)
                 /VARS=!TOKENS(1))

GET FILE=!FPATH.
COMPUTE nobreak=1.
AGGREGATE
/OUTFILE=*
/BREAK=!VARG !VARS
/nbval = N(nobreak).
COMPUTE nobreak=1.
MATCH FILES FILE=* /BY nobreak /LAST=last.


DO IF $CASENUM=1.
- WRITE OUTFILE='a file path here\getsave.sps' / 'GET ' 'FILE ' !VARG'.'.
- WRITE OUTFILE='a file path here\getsave.sps' / 'SAVE ' 'OUTFILE ' !VARS'.'.
ELSE IF NOT last.
- WRITE OUTFILE='a file path here\getsave.sps' / 'GET ' 'FILE ' !VARG'.'.
- WRITE OUTFILE='a file path here\getsave.sps' / 'SAVE ' 'OUTFILE ' !VARS'.'.
ELSE. 
- WRITE OUTFILE='a file path here\getsave.sps' / 'GET ' 'FILE ' !VARG'.'.
- WRITE OUTFILE='a file path here\getsave.sps' / 'SAVE ' 'OUTFILE ' !VARS'.'.
ELSE.
END IF.
EXECUTE.


GET FILE=!FPATH.
INCLUDE 'a file path here\getsave.sps'.
!ENDDEFINE.


!GETPATH 
FPATH ='filepath to dataset holding the filepaths\Data5.sav'
VARG  =GetFile
VARS  =SaveOutFile.

GetFile and SaveOutFile are the variable names holding the respective filepaths.

I have tried using the !QUOTE() and !CONCAT() commands in various ways such as:

/BREAK=!VARG !VARS 

'GET ' 'FILE ' !QUOTE(!VARG) '.'.

!LET !VAR1 = !QUOTE(!VARG)

!QUOTE(!CONCAT(!UNQUOTE(GET ), !UNQUOTE(FILE ), !VARG))'.'.

However, I can't seem to find away to get it to work.

What I expect to see is a file with many iterations of

GET FILE "abc.sav".

SAVE OUTFILE "xyz.sav".

that I can run.

Thanks to anyone that can help!

Solution

You can add the quotes as part of the non-dynamic text in the write out command:

WRITE OUTFILE='a file path here\getsave.sps' / 'GET FILE="' !VARG '".'  .

BTW this will work the same without wrapping it in a macro.
Unless you have a few files that contain lists, and unless there is a reason to differentiate between the first/middle/last lines in the list, the whole process could be done like this:

GET FILE="path\your file with the list.sav".
AGGREGATE / OUTFILE=* / BREAK=OrigName TargenName / n=n.
WRITE OUTFILE='a file path here\getsave.sps' / 'GET FILE="' OrigName '".' 
                                             / 'SAVE OUTFILE= "' TargenName '".' .
EXECUTE.
insert file='a file path here\getsave.sps'.