*(Q) I have data file with a string variable containing patients first and last name. How do I keep the first 3 letters of the last name only in a new variable? Example: Patients Name New Name ANNIS, DAVID DAV ARMOUR, STEPHEN STE JACKO, RICK RIC *(A) Posted by Ray to SPSSX-L list on 2002/01/24. * Create dummy sample file. DATA LIST FIXED /Patient 1-20 (A). BEGIN DATA ANNIS, DAVID ARMOUR, STEPHEN JACKO, RICK John, Smith END DATA. * Do it. STRING newvar(A3). COMPUTE newvar=LTRIM(SUBSTR(patient,INDEX(patient,',')+1)). EXECUTE.