PRINT [OUTFILE=’file_name’] [RECORDS=n_lines] [{NOTABLE,TABLE}] [ENCODING=’encoding’] [/[line_no] arg…] arg takes one of the following forms: ’string’ [start] var_list start-end [type_spec] var_list (fortran_spec) var_list *
The PRINT
transformation writes variable data to the listing
file or an output file. PRINT
is executed when a procedure
causes the data to be read. Follow PRINT
by EXECUTE
to
print variable data without invoking a procedure (see EXECUTE).
All PRINT
subcommands are optional. If no strings or variables
are specified, PRINT
outputs a single blank line.
The OUTFILE
subcommand specifies the file to receive the output. The
file may be a file name as a string or a file handle (see File Handles). If OUTFILE
is not present then output is sent to
PSPP’s output listing file. When OUTFILE
is present, the
output is written to file_name in a plain text format, with a
space inserted at beginning of each output line, even lines that
otherwise would be blank.
The ENCODING
subcommand may only be used if the
OUTFILE
subcommand is also used. It specifies the character
encoding of the file. See INSERT, for information on supported
encodings.
The RECORDS
subcommand specifies the number of lines to be output. The
number of lines may optionally be surrounded by parentheses.
TABLE
will cause the PRINT
command to output a table to the listing file
that describes what it will print to the output file. NOTABLE
, the
default, suppresses this output table.
Introduce the strings and variables to be printed with a slash (‘/’). Optionally, the slash may be followed by a number indicating which output line is specified. In the absence of this line number, the next line number is specified. Multiple lines may be specified using multiple slashes with the intended output for a line following its respective slash.
Literal strings may be printed. Specify the string itself. Optionally the string may be followed by a column number, specifying the column on the line where the string should start. Otherwise, the string is printed at the current position on the line.
Variables to be printed can be specified in the same ways as available
for DATA LIST FIXED
(see DATA LIST FIXED). In addition, a
variable
list may be followed by an asterisk (‘*’), which indicates that the
variables should be printed in their dictionary print formats, separated
by spaces. A variable list followed by a slash or the end of command
is interpreted in the same way.
If a FORTRAN type specification is used to move backwards on the current line, then text is written at that point on the line, the line is truncated to that length, although additional text being added will again extend the line to that length.