Hi Georg,

Your main problem is that the DO IF command does _not_ prevent the ECHO command to execute. It is devoted to the transformation commands (COMPUTE, RECODE etc.) only.

Try:

do if (1 = 0). - ECHO 'Eppur si muove' . end if.

Strange, I agree. Keep smile.

Greetings

Jan

-----Original Message----- From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf Of Georg Maubach Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 4:48 PM To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Subject: Debugging of programs

Hi all,

we would like to use some sort of debugging mode in our programs. We defined a macro

DEFINE @debug () 1 !ENDDEFINE .

and use it in a DO IF command. But this does not work. What are we doing wrong?

Example: DEFINE @debug () 1 !ENDDEFINE /* debug switched on */ . DO IF (@debug = 1) . ECHO 'Debugging Modus is on' . ECHO 'Any debugging commands' . END IF .

DEFINE @debug () 0 !ENDDEFINE /* debug switched off */ . DO IF (@debug = 1) . ECHO 'Debugging Modus is on' . ECHO 'Any debugging commands' . END IF .

Output: Debugging Modus is on Any debugging commands

Debugging Modus is on Any debugging commands

In the latter case the text "Debugging Modus is on" and "Any debugging comands" should not appear. How could we change it so that the debugging commands are not run if the macro @debug is set to 0 with the command DEFINE @debug () 0 !ENDDEFINE?

Best regards

Georg Maubach Market Analyst Deutsche Post World Net Business Consulting GmbH Market Research Service Center mailto:georg.maubach@dpwnbc.net