SET

SET

(data input)
        /BLANKS={SYSMIS,'.',number}
        /DECIMAL={DOT,COMMA}
        /FORMAT=FMT_SPEC
        /EPOCH={AUTOMATIC,YEAR}
        /RIB={NATIVE,MSBFIRST,LSBFIRST}

(interaction)
        /MXERRS=MAX_ERRS
        /MXWARNS=MAX_WARNINGS
        /WORKSPACE=WORKSPACE_SIZE

(syntax execution)
        /LOCALE='LOCALE'
        /MXLOOPS=MAX_LOOPS
        /SEED={RANDOM,SEED_VALUE}
        /UNDEFINED={WARN,NOWARN}
        /FUZZBITS=FUZZBITS
        /SCALEMIN=COUNT

(data output)
        /CC{A,B,C,D,E}='STRING'
        /DECIMAL={DOT,COMMA}
        /FORMAT=FMT_SPEC
        /LEADZERO={ON,OFF}
        /MDISPLAY={TEXT,TABLES}
        /SMALL=NUMBER
        /WIB={NATIVE,MSBFIRST,LSBFIRST}

(output routing)
        /ERRORS={ON,OFF,TERMINAL,LISTING,BOTH,NONE}
        /MESSAGES={ON,OFF,TERMINAL,LISTING,BOTH,NONE}
        /PRINTBACK={ON,OFF,TERMINAL,LISTING,BOTH,NONE}
        /RESULTS={ON,OFF,TERMINAL,LISTING,BOTH,NONE}

(output driver options)
        /HEADERS={NO,YES,BLANK}
        /LENGTH={NONE,N_LINES}
        /WIDTH={NARROW,WIDTH,N_CHARACTERS}
        /TNUMBERS={VALUES,LABELS,BOTH}
        /TVARS={NAMES,LABELS,BOTH}
        /TLOOK={NONE,FILE}

(journal)
        /JOURNAL={ON,OFF} ['FILE_NAME']

(system files)
        /SCOMPRESSION={ON,OFF}

(security)
        /SAFER=ON
        /LOCALE='STRING'

(macros)
        /MEXPAND={ON,OFF}
        /MPRINT={ON,OFF}
        /MITERATE=NUMBER
        /MNEST=NUMBER

(not yet implemented)
        /BASETEXTDIRECTION={AUTOMATIC,RIGHTTOLEFT,LEFTTORIGHT}
        /BLOCK='C'
        /BOX={'XXX','XXXXXXXXXXX'}
        /CACHE={ON,OFF}
        /CELLSBREAK=NUMBER
        /COMPRESSION={ON,OFF}
        /CMPTRANS={ON,OFF}
        /HEADER={NO,YES,BLANK}

SET allows the user to adjust several parameters relating to PSPP's execution. Since there are many subcommands to this command, its subcommands are examined in groups.

For subcommands that take boolean values, ON and YES are synonymous, as are OFF and NO, when used as subcommand values.

Data Input

SET
        /BLANKS={SYSMIS,'.',number}
        /DECIMAL={DOT,COMMA}
        /FORMAT=FMT_SPEC
        /EPOCH={AUTOMATIC,YEAR}
        /RIB={NATIVE,MSBFIRST,LSBFIRST}

The data input subcommands affect the way that data is read from data files. The data input subcommands are:

  • BLANKS
    This is the value assigned to an item data item that is empty or contains only white space. An argument of SYSMIS or '.' causes the system-missing value to be assigned to null items. This is the default. Any real value may be assigned.

  • DECIMAL
    This value may be set to DOT or COMMA. Setting it to DOT causes the decimal point character to be . and the grouping character to be ,. Setting it to COMMA causes the decimal point character to be , and the grouping character to be .. If the setting is COMMA, then , is not treated as a field separator in the DATA LIST command. The default value is determined from the system locale.

  • FORMAT
    Changes the default numeric input/output format. The default is initially F8.2.

  • EPOCH
    Specifies the range of years used when a 2-digit year is read from a data file or used in a date construction expression. If a 4-digit year is specified for the epoch, then 2-digit years are interpreted starting from that year, known as the epoch. If AUTOMATIC (the default) is specified, then the epoch begins 69 years before the current date.

  • RIB
    PSPP extension to set the byte ordering (endianness) used for reading data in IB or PIB format. In MSBFIRST ordering, the most-significant byte appears at the left end of a IB or PIB field. In LSBFIRST ordering, the least-significant byte appears at the left end. NATIVE, the default, is equivalent to MSBFIRST or LSBFIRST depending on the native format of the machine running PSPP.

Interaction

SET
        /MXERRS=MAX_ERRS
        /MXWARNS=MAX_WARNINGS
        /WORKSPACE=WORKSPACE_SIZE

Interaction subcommands affect the way that PSPP interacts with an online user. The interaction subcommands are

  • MXERRS
    The maximum number of errors before PSPP halts processing of the current command file. The default is 50.

  • MXWARNS
    The maximum number of warnings + errors before PSPP halts processing the current command file. The special value of zero means that all warning situations should be ignored. No warnings are issued, except a single initial warning advising you that warnings will not be given. The default value is 100.

Syntax Execution

SET
        /LOCALE='LOCALE'
        /MXLOOPS=MAX_LOOPS
        /SEED={RANDOM,SEED_VALUE}
        /UNDEFINED={WARN,NOWARN}
        /FUZZBITS=FUZZBITS
        /SCALEMIN=COUNT

Syntax execution subcommands control the way that PSPP commands execute. The syntax execution subcommands are

  • LOCALE
    Overrides the system locale for the purpose of reading and writing syntax and data files. The argument should be a locale name in the general form LANGUAGE_COUNTRY.ENCODING, where LANGUAGE and COUNTRY are 2-character language and country abbreviations, respectively, and ENCODING is an IANA character set name. Example locales are en_US.UTF-8 (UTF-8 encoded English as spoken in the United States) and ja_JP.EUC-JP (EUC-JP encoded Japanese as spoken in Japan).

  • MXLOOPS
    The maximum number of iterations for an uncontrolled LOOP, and for any loop in the matrix language. The default MXLOOPS is 40.

  • SEED
    The initial pseudo-random number seed. Set it to a real number or to RANDOM, to obtain an initial seed from the current time of day.

  • UNDEFINED
    Currently not used.

  • FUZZBITS
    The maximum number of bits of errors in the least-significant places to accept for rounding up a value that is almost halfway between two possibilities for rounding with the RND. The default FUZZBITS is 6.

  • SCALEMIN
    The minimum number of distinct valid values for PSPP to assume that a variable has a scale measurement level.

  • WORKSPACE
    The maximum amount of memory (in kilobytes) that PSPP uses to store data being processed. If memory in excess of the workspace size is required, then PSPP starts to use temporary files to store the data. Setting a higher value means that procedures run faster, but may cause other applications to run slower. On platforms without virtual memory management, setting a very large workspace may cause PSPP to abort.

Data Output

SET
        /CC{A,B,C,D,E}='STRING'
        /DECIMAL={DOT,COMMA}
        /FORMAT=FMT_SPEC
        /LEADZERO={ON,OFF}
        /MDISPLAY={TEXT,TABLES}
        /SMALL=NUMBER
        /WIB={NATIVE,MSBFIRST,LSBFIRST}

Data output subcommands affect the format of output data. These subcommands are

  • CCA
    CCB
    CCC
    CCD
    CCE
    Set up custom currency formats.

  • DECIMAL
    The default DOT setting causes the decimal point character to be .. A setting of COMMA causes the decimal point character to be ,.

  • FORMAT
    Allows the default numeric input/output format to be specified. The default is F8.2.

  • LEADZERO
    Controls whether numbers with magnitude less than one are displayed with a zero before the decimal point. For example, with SET LEADZERO=OFF, which is the default, one-half is shown as 0.5, and with SET LEADZERO=ON, it is shown as .5. This setting affects only the F, COMMA, and DOT formats.

  • MDISPLAY
    Controls how the PRINT command within MATRIX...END MATRIX outputs matrices. With the default TEXT, PRINT outputs matrices as text. Change this setting to TABLES to instead output matrices as pivot tables.

  • SMALL
    This controls how PSPP formats small numbers in pivot tables, in cases where PSPP does not otherwise have a well-defined format for the numbers. When such a number has a magnitude less than the value set here, PSPP formats the number in scientific notation; otherwise, it formats it in standard notation. The default is 0.0001. Set a value of 0 to disable scientific notation.

  • WIB
    PSPP extension to set the byte ordering (endianness) used for writing data in IB or PIB format. In MSBFIRST ordering, the most-significant byte appears at the left end of a IB or PIB field. In LSBFIRST ordering, the least-significant byte appears at the left end. NATIVE, the default, is equivalent to MSBFIRST or LSBFIRST depending on the native format of the machine running PSPP.

Output Routing

SET
        /ERRORS={ON,OFF,TERMINAL,LISTING,BOTH,NONE}
        /MESSAGES={ON,OFF,TERMINAL,LISTING,BOTH,NONE}
        /PRINTBACK={ON,OFF,TERMINAL,LISTING,BOTH,NONE}
        /RESULTS={ON,OFF,TERMINAL,LISTING,BOTH,NONE}

In the PSPP text-based interface, the output routing subcommands affect where output is sent. The following values are allowed for each of these subcommands:

  • OFF
    NONE
    Discard this kind of output.

  • TERMINAL
    Write this output to the terminal, but not to listing files and other output devices.

  • LISTING
    Write this output to listing files and other output devices, but not to the terminal.

  • ON
    BOTH
    Write this type of output to all output devices.

These output routing subcommands are:

  • ERRORS
    Applies to error and warning messages. The default is BOTH.

  • MESSAGES
    Applies to notes. The default is BOTH.

  • PRINTBACK
    Determines whether the syntax used for input is printed back as part of the output. The default is NONE.

  • RESULTS
    Applies to everything not in one of the above categories, such as the results of statistical procedures. The default is BOTH.

These subcommands have no effect on output in the PSPP GUI environment.

Output Driver

SET
        /HEADERS={NO,YES,BLANK}
        /LENGTH={NONE,N_LINES}
        /WIDTH={NARROW,WIDTH,N_CHARACTERS}
        /TNUMBERS={VALUES,LABELS,BOTH}
        /TVARS={NAMES,LABELS,BOTH}
        /TLOOK={NONE,FILE}

Output driver option subcommands affect output drivers' settings. These subcommands are:

  • HEADERS

  • LENGTH

  • WIDTH

  • TNUMBERS
    The TNUMBERS option sets the way in which values are displayed in output tables. The valid settings are VALUES, LABELS and BOTH. If TNUMBERS is set to VALUES, then all values are displayed with their literal value (which for a numeric value is a number and for a string value an alphanumeric string). If TNUMBERS is set to LABELS, then values are displayed using their assigned value labels, if any. If the value has no label, then the literal value is used for display. If TNUMBERS is set to BOTH, then values are displayed with both their label (if any) and their literal value in parentheses.

  • TVARS
    The TVARS option sets the way in which variables are displayed in output tables. The valid settings are NAMES, LABELS and BOTH. If TVARS is set to NAMES, then all variables are displayed using their names. If TVARS is set to LABELS, then variables are displayed using their variable label, if one has been set. If no label has been set, then the name is used. If TVARS is set to BOTH, then variables are displayed with both their label (if any) and their name in parentheses.

  • TLOOK
    The TLOOK option sets the style used for subsequent table output. Specifying NONE makes PSPP use the default built-in style. Otherwise, specifying FILE makes PSPP search for an .stt or .tlo file in the same way as specifying --table-look=FILE the PSPP command line (*note Main Options::).

Journal

SET
        /JOURNAL={ON,OFF} ['FILE_NAME']

Journal subcommands affect logging of commands executed to external files. These subcommands are

  • JOURNAL
    LOG
    These subcommands, which are synonyms, control the journal. The default is ON, which causes commands entered interactively to be written to the journal file. Commands included from syntax files that are included interactively and error messages printed by PSPP are also written to the journal file, prefixed by >. OFF disables use of the journal.

    The journal is named pspp.jnl by default. A different name may be specified.

System Files

SET
        /SCOMPRESSION={ON,OFF}

System file subcommands affect the default format of system files produced by PSPP. These subcommands are

Security

SET
        /SAFER=ON
        /LOCALE='STRING'

Security subcommands affect the operations that commands are allowed to perform. The security subcommands are

  • SAFER
    Setting this option disables the following operations:

    • The ERASE command.
    • The HOST command.
    • The PERMISSIONS command.
    • Pipes (file names beginning or ending with |).

    Be aware that this setting does not guarantee safety (commands can still overwrite files, for instance) but it is an improvement. When set, this setting cannot be reset during the same session, for obvious security reasons.

  • LOCALE
    This item is used to set the default character encoding. The encoding may be specified either as an IANA encoding name or alias, or as a locale name. If given as a locale name, only the character encoding of the locale is relevant.

    System files written by PSPP use this encoding. System files read by PSPP, for which the encoding is unknown, are interpreted using this encoding.

    The full list of valid encodings and locale names/alias are operating system dependent. The following are all examples of acceptable syntax on common GNU/Linux systems.

    SET LOCALE='iso-8859-1'.

SET LOCALE='ru_RU.cp1251'.

SET LOCALE='japanese'.

    Contrary to intuition, this command does not affect any aspect of the system's locale.

Macros

SET
        /MEXPAND={ON,OFF}
        /MPRINT={ON,OFF}
        /MITERATE=NUMBER
        /MNEST=NUMBER

The following subcommands affect the interpretation of macros. For more information, see Macro Settings.

  • MEXPAND
    Controls whether macros are expanded. The default is ON.

  • MPRINT
    Controls whether the expansion of macros is included in output. This is separate from whether command syntax in general is included in output. The default is OFF.

  • MITERATE
    Limits the number of iterations executed in !DO loops within macros. This does not affect other language constructs such as LOOP…END LOOP. This must be set to a positive integer. The default is 1000.

  • MNEST
    Limits the number of levels of nested macro expansions. This must be set to a positive integer. The default is 50.

Not Yet Implemented

SET
        /BASETEXTDIRECTION={AUTOMATIC,RIGHTTOLEFT,LEFTTORIGHT}
        /BLOCK='C'
        /BOX={'XXX','XXXXXXXXXXX'}
        /CACHE={ON,OFF}
        /CELLSBREAK=NUMBER
        /COMPRESSION={ON,OFF}
        /CMPTRANS={ON,OFF}
        /HEADER={NO,YES,BLANK}

The following subcommands are not yet implemented, but PSPP accepts them and ignores the settings:

  • BASETEXTDIRECTION
  • BLOCK
  • BOX
  • CACHE
  • CELLSBREAK
  • COMPRESSION
  • CMPTRANS
  • HEADER