From the syntax manual "If DO REPEAT is used to create new variables, the order in which they are created depends on how the transformation commands are specified. Variables created by specifying the TO keyword are not necessarily consecutive in the working data file."

There is an example under PRINT that shows the situation you have encountered. It says, "if you plan to use the TO keyword to refer to [x1 to x5] later, you should use two separate DO REPEAT utilities; otherwise, [x1 to x5] will include for of the five [y] variables.

-----Original Message----- From: David C. Howell [mailto:David.Howell@UVM.EDU] Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 9:46 AM To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Subject: [SPSSX-L] Very Strange Behavior

I have a very strange problem that I cannot seem to sort out. The syntax and output below have been stripped down to the bare essentials. I simplified my code to a minimum to focus on where the error lies. This is part of a much larger task, and looks silly on its own, but this is the part that fails me.

If I execute the following 5 lines of code I get exactly what I want. x1 = equala, y1 = satisfa, x2 = equala, y2 = satisfa, etc.

****************************************************** do repeat x = x1 to x5/ y = y1 to y5. compute x = equala. compute y = satisfa. end repeat print. execute. ******************************************************

But NOW, if I don't change a single thing, and don't delete the new variables from the data file, but execute that same piece of code again, things go very wrong. Now I get x1 = equala, y1 = equala , x2 = equala, y2 = equala, .. Everything is equal to equala except for y5 (the last one) which is equal to satisfa. (This same pattern holds if I generate more variables--only the last is different.)

If I delete the newly created variables from my data set and start over, it works the first time but fails after that.

From the print command's output shown below, you can see what is happening, but WHY is it happening? When I run the syntax a second time, with the first set of output variables sill in the file, x1 is set to equala, y1 is set to satisfa, but then y1 is reset to equala.

Any ideas would be very welcome.

************************************************************* From the first time it is run.

2029 +COMPUTE X1 = EQUALA 2030 +COMPUTE Y1 = SATISFA 2031 +COMPUTE X2 = EQUALA 2032 +COMPUTE Y2 = SATISFA 2033 +COMPUTE X3 = EQUALA 2034 +COMPUTE Y3 = SATISFA 2035 +COMPUTE X4 = EQUALA 2036 +COMPUTE Y4 = SATISFA 2037 +COMPUTE X5 = EQUALA 2038 +COMPUTE Y5 = SATISFA

Here we run it a second time

2047 +COMPUTE X1 = EQUALA 2048 +COMPUTE Y1 = SATISFA 2049 +COMPUTE Y1 = EQUALA ??????????? 2050 +COMPUTE X2 = SATISFA 2051 +COMPUTE X2 = EQUALA ??????????? 2052 +COMPUTE Y2 = SATISFA 2053 +COMPUTE Y2 = EQUALA ??????????? 2054 +COMPUTE X3 = SATISFA 2055 +COMPUTE X3 = EQUALA 2056 +COMPUTE Y3 = SATISFA 2057 +COMPUTE Y3 = EQUALA 2058 +COMPUTE X4 = SATISFA 2059 +COMPUTE X4 = EQUALA 2060 +COMPUTE Y4 = SATISFA 2061 +COMPUTE Y4 = EQUALA 2062 +COMPUTE X5 = SATISFA 2063 +COMPUTE X5 = EQUALA 2064 +COMPUTE Y5 = SATISFA *******************************************

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David C. Howell Phone: (802) 656-2670 Dept of Psychology Fax: (802) 656-8783 University of Vermont email: David.Howell@uvm.edu Burlington, VT 05405

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