SPSSX-L archives -- November 2011 (#531)

Date:	Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:45:11 -0500
Reply-To:	Art@DrKendall.org
Sender:	"SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:	Art Kendall <Art@DrKendall.org>
Organization:	Social Research Consultants
Subject:	Re: How to calculate missing values in a string with multiple responses and semi-colons
Comments:	To: huang jialin <huangpsych@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:	<CACdH1VhNL9_AAE0+FPcLoLVXMQj52Tdcv2dbYehsddM6Bh3Uww@mail.gmail.com>
Content-type:	text/html; charset=UTF-8

<html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> side note: if you review the whole conversation, you can see the value of the list.Ā As time went on, the group worked out an understanding of what your question is. Why the earlier post? Rick Oliver built on my suggestion that the string be written out to a disk file.Ā He pointed out that DATA LIST LIST could specify a separator when reading a text file. Something I had forgotten.Ā I pointed out that in fact there could be 2 different separator characters, and asked if the list knew of a way to specify a tab character as the separator character. What I now think you question is: There is a string of semicolon separated fields.Ā The fields can contain 0 to 3 digits. Each field contains 3 variables in a multiple response set. You actually have 50 sets of 3 variables. You want to have 3 kinds of user missing values. Ā Ā Ā 1 kind e.g., -999 to indicate missing at the end, i.e., trailing Ā Ā Ā another kind e.g., -998 to indicate a variable that is null but is within the set of variables with responses not trailing Ā Ā a third kind e.g., -997 to indicate a variable set that has some content but but fewer than 3 responses in a set Maybe your syntax would include something like Missing values v1 to v150 (-999 thru -1). value labels v1 to v150 Ā Ā Ā 1 'something' Ā Ā Ā 2 'something else' Ā Ā Ā 3 'another label' Ā -999 'did not get to question' Ā -998 'read but not answered' Ā -997 'partially answered question'. Is this understanding correct? Do you now have a working set of syntax? Art Kendall Social Research Consultants On 11/28/2011 4:00 PM, huang jialin wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:CACdH1VhNL9_AAE0+FPcLoLVXMQj52Tdcv2dbYehsddM6Bh3Uww@mail.gmail.com" type="cite">Hi Art, <div> </div> <div>Thanks for the reply. Would you explain how it relates to my question?Ā </div> <div> </div> <div>BTW, there are goofy characters in the email. Is it because my email?</div> <div> </div> <div>Thanks.</div> <div> </div> <div>Jialin <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 1:49 PM, Art Kendall <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:Art@drkendall.org">Art@drkendall.org</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> <div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> Nice one.Ć‚ I forgot that one can specify the delimiter. I can see how to use semicolon, comma, pipe or most likely any printing character, is there a way to specify a tab (ctrl-h in ASCII)? Lo and behold!! this works even with 2 specified separators this syntax if forĆ‚ tilda and xĆ‚ Ć‚ but x and X works too. new file. set blanks 0. data list list ("~","x")Ć‚ file='c:\project\tilda x separated.txt' /numvar1 to numvar3. compute numvalid=nvalid(numvar1 to numvar3). compute ID = $casenum. list /variables = ID numvar1 to numvar3. ----- the data ----- 123x456x789 xxx 123x456x789 123xx 123~456~789 ~~~ 123~456x789 123~x <div class="im"> Art Kendall Social Research Consultants </div> <div class="im"> On 11/28/2011 1:53 PM, Rick Oliver wrote: </div> <blockquote type="cite"> <div class="im">Rick Oliver Senior Information Developer IBM Business Analytics (SPSS) E-mail: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:oliverr@us.ibm.com" target="_blank">oliverr@us.ibm.com</a> ****sample data***. data list list /stringvar (a120). begin data 1;1;5;1;4;3;;;2;2;134;5;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;5;3;;1;3;145;2;3;;5;5;;5;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;1;3;1;5;1;4;4;2;1;;2;3;;4;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 1;1;;3;;1;4;;4;2;3;5;;3;;4;5;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 3;5;1;3;1;;1;2;3;;2;2;;3;;;3;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 3;4;3;1;3;3;145;1;3;5;4;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 1;1;4;1;4;2;1;5;;3;234;2;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 1;1;5;1;4;2;1;1;2;2;234;4;5;4;1;145;2;2;3;125;3;5;1;2;2;5;234;3;2;3;2;2;5;3;4;;135;;4;4;135;;1;2;;234;;;;2 2;4;3;1;3;3;145;2;3;4;2;1;1;3;235;1;3;5;235;3;3;4;125;5;1;2;3;1;2;4;3;5;4;135;3;4;3;2;2;5;1;5;245;2;1;3;124;4;2; end data. write outfile='c:\temp\temp.txt' /stringvar. execute. ***real code starts here. just read the original text data file this way***. </div> data list list (";") Ć‚ file='c:\temp\temp.txt' /numvar1 to numvar50. <div class="im"> compute numvalid=nvalid(numvar1 to numvar50). execute. </div> From: Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ huang jialin <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:huangpsych@gmail.com" target="_blank"><huangpsych@gmail.com></a> To: Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:SPSSX-L@listserv.uga.edu" target="_blank">SPSSX-L@listserv.uga.edu</a> Date: Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ 11/28/2011 12:19 PM Subject: Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Re: How to calculate missing values in a string with multiple Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ responses and semi-colons Sent by: Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ Ć‚ "SPSSX(r)

Discussion" <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:SPSSX-L@listserv.uga.edu" target="_blank"><SPSSX-L@listserv.uga.edu></a> <div class="im"> <hr noshade="noshade"> Hi Gene, Thanks for your quick response. I will rephrase my question. That is, I only want to count the missing values before the last integer. Am I making sense now? Sorry for the confusion. Sincerely, </div> JialinĆ‚ <div class="im"> On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 12:08 PM, Gene Maguin <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:emaguin@buffalo.edu" target="_blank">emaguin@buffalo.edu</a>> wrote: Ok, I missed accounting for the situation where the first item is missing. This will do that. Ć‚ Compute

nmissing=0. </div> If (substr(V,1,1) eq ā€;ā€™) nmissing=nmissing+1.Ć‚ <div class="im"> Loop #i=1 to 149. Do If (substr(V,#i,2) eq ā€;;ā€™). </div> +Ć‚ compute nmissing=nmissing+1. Else if (substr(V,#i,2) eq ā€Ć‚ ā€). +Ć‚ break. <div class="im"> End if. End loop. Ć‚ I donā€™t know what you mean by this: ā€Second, I do not want to count the missing values when there is no response at allā€™. How do you tell the difference between a missing value and ā€no response at allā€™. </div> Ć‚ Ć‚ <div class="im"> Ć‚ From: huang jialin [mailto:<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:huangpsych@gmail.com" target="_blank">huangpsych@gmail.com</a>] Sent: Monday, November 28, 2011 12:54 PM To: Gene Maguin Cc: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:SPSSX-L@listserv.uga.edu" target="_blank">SPSSX-L@listserv.uga.edu</a> Subject: Re: How to calculate missing values in a string with multiple responses and semi-colons </div> Ć‚ Hi Gene, <div class="im"> Ć‚ Thanks for your email. There are still two questions needed to be solved. First, if the first item is missing, there is only one semicolon in the beginning of the string. Thus, it may not fit the comparison of pair of semicolons. Second, I do not want to count the missing values when there is no response at all. How can I do it? </div> Ć‚ Thank you very much. Ć‚ Sincerely, Jialin Ć‚ <div class="im"> Ć‚ On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 11:42 AM, Gene Maguin <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:emaguin@buffalo.edu" target="_blank">emaguin@buffalo.edu</a>> wrote: It looks like adjacent semicolons (;;) mean a missing data value. I think all you need to do is to count pairs of semicolons. Letā€™s say the that the variable, V, is A150. Ć‚ Compute

nmissing=0. Loop #i=1 to 149. Do If (substr(V,#i,2) eq ā€;;ā€™). </div> +Ć‚ compute nmissing=nmissing+1. Else if (substr(V,#i,2) eq ā€Ć‚ ā€). +Ć‚ break. End if. End loop. Ć‚ <div class="im"> >>If you copy this text, make sure the quotes are straight and not curly. I think spss does not like curly. </div> Ć‚ Ć‚ <div class="im"> Ć‚ From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU" target="_blank">SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU</a>] On Behalf Of huang jialin Sent: Monday, November 28, 2011 12:23 PM To: <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU" target="_blank">SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU</a> Subject: How to calculate missing values in a string with multiple responses and semi-colons </div> Ć‚ Hello, Ć‚ I have a variable in a datasetĆ‚ formattedĆ‚ as following: <div class="im"> 1;1;5;1;4;3;;;2;2;134;5;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;5;3;;1;3;145;2;3;;5;5;;5;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;1;3;1;5;1;4;4;2;1;;2;3;;4;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 1;1;;3;;1;4;;4;2;3;5;;3;;4;5;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 3;5;1;3;1;;1;2;3;;2;2;;3;;;3;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 3;4;3;1;3;3;145;1;3;5;4;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 1;1;4;1;4;2;1;5;;3;234;2;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 1;1;5;1;4;2;1;1;2;2;234;4;5;4;1;145;2;2;3;125;3;5;1;2;2;5;234;3;2;3;2;2;5;3;4;;135;;4;4;135;;1;2;;234;;;;2 2;4;3;1;3;3;145;2;3;4;2;1;1;3;235;1;3;5;235;3;3;4;125;5;1;2;3;1;2;4;3;5;4;135;3;4;3;2;2;5;1;5;245;2;1;3;124;4;2; Ć‚ </div> There is 50 items in total, andĆ‚ they areĆ‚ separatedĆ‚ by 49 semi-colons. For certain items, they contains multiple responses. I want to calculate how many items was missed before theĆ‚ responsesĆ‚ stopped. <div class="im"> Ć‚ I tried to use length(trim(var)) to calculate the length of string, but it only turned out to be the number of responses. It is the same as using CHAR.LENGTH(var). Ć‚ </div> How can I got the number of missing items?Ć‚ Ć‚ I would appreciate your helps.Ć‚ Ć‚ Sincerely, Jialin Ć‚ Ć‚ </blockquote> </div> ===================== To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU" target="_blank">LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU</a> (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the command. To leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF SPSSX-L For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command INFO REFCARD </blockquote> </div> </div> </blockquote> </body> </html>

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