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Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 21:30:09 -0400
Reply-To: Richard Ristow <wrristow@mindspring.com>
Sender: "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Richard Ristow <wrristow@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: Using Execute
In-Reply-To: <018701c6a5d3$020e6c60$0201a8c0@LIFEBOOK>
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At 12:47 PM 7/12/2006, Lisa Stickney wrote:
>I, myself, confess to being a former Execute user (is there a
>self-help group for that?). I got in the habit ofusing Execute about
>4 years ago when I started using SPSS, after a nearly 12 year
>hiatus. I didn't remember the syntax, so I used the Paste button to
>"refresh" my memory & learn the syntax.
Yes; that's an excellent practice. But,
>If you do that, and don't really understand when/why execute is
>needed, it's easy to get in the habit of putting them in
Good ever-lovin' grief! Thank you, Lisa! I didn't even know that SPSS
inserted EXECUTEs following pasted syntax commands. (See below.)
If SPSS puts EXECUTEs after every (pasted) transformation command, of
COURSE users will think they're necessary.
Other readers: Did this happen to you, too? It's precisely the right
way to form precisely the wrong habit.
Beadle, ViAnn wrote at 12:53 PM 7/12/2006,
>Although its not really obvious, you can turn off the EXECUTE command
>[that's pasted after pasted transformation commands] in Edit>Options
>under Transformation and Merge Operations.
To be precise (since I had to look for it myself), it's
Edit>Options>Data; then, under Transformation and Merge Operations,
+ To get the EXECUTE pasted, select "Calculate values immediately";
+ To omit it, select "Calculate values before used".
(Which is the default?)
I'd long forgotten that option was there. I probably selected
"Calculate values before used" on general principles, thinking of
directly executed, rather than pasted, transformations. I paste
transformation commands sometimes, but I guess I never had an EXECUTE
