Array of 1's to a single variable

[Tim Pickles]

Hi,

I have an array of variables, each of which looks for errors in my data and
contains a 1 if that specific error occurs. I want to reduce these
variables down to one variable by using the following code:

STRING ERRORS (A400).

VECTOR S = SECTION1a to SECTIONU84.
LOOP #I = 1 TO 75.
  DO IF (S(#I) = 1).
    COMPUTE ERRORS = CONCAT(VALUELABEL(S(#I)),'; ').
  END IF.
END LOOP.

where all the variables in SECTION1a to SECTIONU84 contain 1's and missings
with the 1's given value labels describing the error in question.

However, I keep getting the following error:

>Error # 4328 in column 53.  Text: )
>The argument of the VALUELABEL function must be a simple variable. It must
>not be a constant, an expression, or a subscripted variable.
>This command not executed.

and am not sure what to do. Does anyone know of a solution?

Cheers,
Tim.

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[Albert-jan Roskam]

Hi,

You could try to replace the VECTOR/LOOP with a DO REPEAT? Not sure if a stand-in variable of a do-repeat is also called a subscripted variable.
I thought the use of vectors was limited to arrays with contiguous numberings, while yours is 1a through 84, a total of 76 'units'.

Cheers!!
Albert-Jan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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--- On Wed, 11/11/09, Tim Pickles <pickleste@...> wrote:

> From: Tim Pickles <pickleste@...>
> Subject: [SPSSX-L] Array of 1's to a single variable
> To: SPSSX-L@...
> Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 12:40 PM
> Hi,
>
> I have an array of variables, each of which looks for
> errors in my data and
> contains a 1 if that specific error occurs. I want to
> reduce these
> variables down to one variable by using the following
> code:
>
> STRING ERRORS (A400).
>
> VECTOR S = SECTION1a to SECTIONU84.
> LOOP #I = 1 TO 75.
>   DO IF (S(#I) = 1).
>     COMPUTE ERRORS = CONCAT(VALUELABEL(S(#I)),';
> ').
>   END IF.
> END LOOP.
>
> where all the variables in SECTION1a to SECTIONU84 contain
> 1's and missings
> with the 1's given value labels describing the error in
> question.
>
> However, I keep getting the following error:
>
> >Error # 4328 in column 53.  Text: )
> >The argument of the VALUELABEL function must be a
> simple variable. It must
> >not be a constant, an expression, or a subscripted
> variable.
> >This command not executed.
>
> and am not sure what to do. Does anyone know of a
> solution?
>
> Cheers,
> Tim.
>
> =====================
> To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
> LISTSERV@...
> (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
> command. To leave the list, send the command
> SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
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> command
> INFO REFCARD
>

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[Gene Maguin]

Tim,

You are using concat incorrectly. Briefly, but you should read the
documentation for the concat function, concat combines values in a single
command. So, you could say

COMPUTE ERRORS = CONCAT(VALUELABEL(Section1a),'; ',VALUELABEL(Section2)).


You can do what you want in a single concat statement--in theory. However, I
wonder if there is a limit to the length of the command line, which would
approach 4300 characters in length if strung out end to end. I don't know
how spss' command processor works in detail. Maybe somebody else knows about
command lines and how they are processed.

But, you could it as you describe, using a loop, or, as Albert-Jan
suggested, using do repeat. There is a key operation you need to do, which
is to trim errors before concantenating. So, using loop.

STRING ERRORS (A400).
VECTOR S = SECTION1a to SECTIONU84.
LOOP #I = 1 TO 75.
  DO IF (S(#I) = 1).
    COMPUTE ERRORS = CONCAT(rtrim(errors),' ',rtrim(VALUELABEL(S(#I))),';').
  END IF.
END LOOP.


Using do repeat.

STRING ERRORS (A400).
Do repeat S = SECTION1a to SECTIONU84.
  DO IF (S = 1).
    COMPUTE ERRORS = CONCAT(rtrim(errors),' ',rtrim(VALUELABEL(S)),';').
  END IF.
End repeat.

Notice that I also trimmed the value returned by the valuelabels function
because I don't know how the length of the underlying value labels vector is
determined. Also, notice that I changed the delimiter from '; ' to ';'
because the trim operation will remove the space character following the
semicolon. I added the space character back in following the trimmed errors.


Bear in mind that all this is untested.


Gene Maguin



>>I have an array of variables, each of which looks for errors in my data
and
contains a 1 if that specific error occurs. I want to reduce these
variables down to one variable by using the following code:

STRING ERRORS (A400).

VECTOR S = SECTION1a to SECTIONU84.
LOOP #I = 1 TO 75.
  DO IF (S(#I) = 1).
    COMPUTE ERRORS = CONCAT(VALUELABEL(S(#I)),'; ').
  END IF.
END LOOP.

where all the variables in SECTION1a to SECTIONU84 contain 1's and missings
with the 1's given value labels describing the error in question.

However, I keep getting the following error:

>Error # 4328 in column 53.  Text: )
>The argument of the VALUELABEL function must be a simple variable. It must
>not be a constant, an expression, or a subscripted variable.
>This command not executed.

and am not sure what to do. Does anyone know of a solution?

Cheers,
Tim.

=====================
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