Transform string variable into 0-1 columns - spss

Question

As a very begginer in SPSS I would ask you for help with some transformation from table A into table B. I have to recode values of "brand" variable into columns and make 0-1 variables.
#table A#
nr brand
1 GREEN CARE PROFESSIONAL
1 GREEN CARE PROFESSIONAL
1 GREEN CARE PROFESSIONAL
2 HENKEL
3 HENKEL
3 HENKEL
3 HENKEL
3 VIZIR
4 BIEDRONKA
4 BOBINI
4 BOBINI
4 BOBINI
4 BOBINI
4 BOBINI
4 HENKEL
5 VIZIR
6 HENKEL
#table B#
nr GREEN HENKEL VIZIR BIEDR BOBINI
1 1 0 0 0 0
1 1 0 0 0 0
1 1 1 0 0 0
2 0 1 0 0 0
3 0 1 0 0 0
3 0 1 0 0 0
3 0 1 0 0 0
3 0 0 1 0 0
4 0 0 0 1 0
4 0 0 0 0 1
4 0 0 0 0 1
4 0 0 0 0 1
4 0 0 0 0 1
4 0 0 0 0 1
4 0 1 0 0 0
5 0 0 1 0 0
6 0 1 0 0 0
I can do it in this particular case in this simple way:
compute HENKEL=0.
...
do if BRAND='GREEN_CARE' .
compute GREEN_CARE=1.
else if ....
but the loop has to be usable with another variable and different number of values ect. I was trying to make it all day and gave up.
Do you have any idea to make it in a easy way?
Thanks!

Answer 1

The following syntax does the job on the sample data you provided.
First, let's recreate the sample data to demonstrate on:
Data list list/nr (f1) brand (a30).
begin data
1 "GREEN CARE PROFESSIONAL"
1 "GREEN CARE PROFESSIONAL"
1 "GREEN CARE PROFESSIONAL"
2 "HENKEL"
3 "HENKEL"
3 "HENKEL"
3 "HENKEL"
3 "VIZIR"
4 "BIEDRONKA"
4 "BOBINI"
4 "BOBINI"
4 "BOBINI"
4 "BOBINI"
4 "BOBINI"
4 "HENKEL"
5 "VIZIR"
6 "HENKEL"
end data.
dataset name originalDataset.
Now for the restructure.
sort cases by nr brand.
* creating an index to enumerate cases for each combination of `nr` and `brand`.
* This is necessary for the `casestovars` command to work later.
compute ind=1.
if $casenum>1 and lag(nr)=nr and lag(brand)=brand ind=lag(ind)+1.
exe.
* variable names can't have spaces in them, so changing the category names accordingly.
compute brand=replace(rtrim(brand)," ","_").
sort cases by nr ind brand.
compute exist=1.
casestovars /id=nr ind /index= brand/autofix=no.