Date:         Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:34:13 -0400
Reply-To:     Gene Maguin <emaguin@buffalo.edu>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Gene Maguin <emaguin@buffalo.edu>
Subject:      Re: Syntax not working
In-Reply-To:  <5AB66E3A87B709438143813E78A72DCC1527F120@excnysm95banp.nysemail.nyenet>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The problem is in the Do if statement, thats what the error message says. I
think you should be using the Any function. I understand what your colleague
means but spss won't because there is no In function in spss. Look at the
Any and Range functions in the sytax reference (page 114 in V17).
This is untested but this is what I'd start with and see what happens.


Do if
(any(char.substr(char.LPAD(NYSID,9),9),"1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","
0")).

Improvements (assuming I understand your data structure).
First, I think you may be able to use Range instead of Any where the low
value is '0' and the high value is '9'. Note the little note about 'national
collating sequence' in the syntax ref and which is undefined (and with no
reference to it).

Second, as I understand your data, the value is either going to be
'123456789' or '12345678A'. If so, then this will work:

Do if (any(char.substr(NYSID,1,9),"1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","0")).

Actually, if your data are right justified so that the left characters are
blanks if the NYSID is less than 9 chars, the Lpad is also not needed.

Gene Maguin

PS. I don't think the Lpad is needed at all in any of the compute
statements.



>>Good morning. For the last few days I've been trying to figure out why the
syntax below does not work. My colleague wrote the syntax to do the
following "Translated this means if the last (9th) character of a right
justified left padded variable is numeric then take the first 9 characters
else

Take the first eight characters."  Typically we use an identifier variable
(NYSID) that includes 8 numeric digits and the last is an alpha (e.g
23882939L). It's much easier to drop the alpha digit and work with a numeric
number. However, it's possible that the identifier can vary in length as
well as not include the last alpha (agencies forget). My friend wrote the
syntax below to account for all this.but I keep getting the following error
(see below).  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, A





DO IF char.substr(char.LPAD(NYSID,9),9) in
("1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","0")

COMPUTE VAR00005=char.substr(CHAR.LPAD(NYSID,1,9))

else

COMPUTE VAR00005=char.substr(CHAR.LPAD(NYSID,1,8))

End if.





Error # 4205.  Command name: DO IF

The syntax calls for a logical expression but a numeric or character

expression was found.

This command not executed.





P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.




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