*SPSS syntax example by www.spss-tutorials.com.

*Create (empty) test data.

data list free/v1 to v10.
begin data.
end data.

*Prefix v5 through v10 with "hello_".

begin program.
variables = 'v5 to v10' #Specify variables to be prefixed.
prefix ='hello_' #Specify prefix.
import spss,spssaux
oldnames = spssaux.VariableDict().expand(variables)
newnames = [prefix + varnam for varnam in oldnames]
spss.Submit('rename variables (%s=%s).'%('\n'.join(oldnames),'\n'.join(newnames)))
end program.