Hide or Remove Variables (Columns)
This article is part of The Definitive Guide to Importing and Preparing Data.
Often, you may not want to have every variable present in the Variable Sidebar (e.g., system or quality control programming variables that aren't useful for analysis; individual contributing variables to an array or multiple response variable).
There are two options to remove them from the Variable Sidebar:
- Hide variables - This removes them from the Variable Sidebar but they remain in the dataset and can be found in the Variable organizer panel to unhide them if needed. Though they are hidden from view, they can still be referenced in other commands and calculations if needed.
- Remove variables - This deletes the variable(s) out of your dataset, which will reduce your dataset's size.
- Note: Consideration needs to be taken before removing variables in the following cases:
- Tracking datasets - where additional data will be added to the dataset.
- When importing from an integration - this will alter the dataset schema and could interfere with future integration updates.
- When other variables, filters, or multitables rely on that particular variable or it is an individual contributing variable to an array or multiple response variable.
- Note: Consideration needs to be taken before removing variables in the following cases:
In the web app
- Hide a Single Variable (Variable Properties)
- Hide Multiple Variables (Variable Organizer)
- Delete a Single Variable (Variable Properties)
- Delete Multiple Variables (Variable Organizer)
Crunch Automation
- ORGANIZE command - specifically, ORGANIZE INTO HIDDEN;
Using R