What does "common cases" mean? That you want to keep only those cases that have data in both of the original datasets? If so, then something like the following should do the trick. You'll have to adapt it to fit your own variable names, etc.
* Suppose you have two datatsets called DS1 and DS2,
* and that both have a variable called ID that you
* wish to use as a Key Variable for merging the datasets.
* First, make sure both datasets are sorted on ID.
DATASET ACTIVATE DS1.
SORT CASES by ID.
DATASET ACTIVATE DS2.
SORT CASES by ID.
* Now merge the files via MATCH FILES, and
* include the /IN sub-command to create two
* new variables that flag the presence of data
* from each dataset.
MATCH FILES
FILE = 'DS1' / IN = Flag1 /
FILE = 'DS2' / IN = Flag2 /
BY ID.
EXECUTE.
DATASET NAME DS12.
DATASET ACTIVATE DS12.
VARIABLE LABELS
Flag1 'Case has data from DS1'
Flag2 'Case has data from DS2'.
CROSSTABS Flag1 by Flag2.
* Now keep only cases that have data from both datasets.
SELECT IF Flag1 and Flag2.
CROSSTABS Flag1 by Flag2.
If that is not what you meant by "common cases", please clarify. It would help to show what the datasets look like originally, and what you want the merged dataset to look like when you are finished.
Thank you. You have correctly identified the issue. I will play around with this and perhaps communicate again.
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