IBM Support

Is there an easy way to insert an SPSS Text item in output via command syntax?

Troubleshooting


Problem

I'm using SPSS for Windows and I want to be able to add some fairly extensive comments in some output I'm creating, and I want to be able to do it via the command syntax file that creates the output. I know about the ECHO command, but it doesn't really work for me for several reasons. First, it creates (or adds to) a Log item and not an SPSS Text item. Since I have 'display commands in the log" turned on (from Edit->Options, Viewer), I also keep my Log output items hidden until I need them. When I go to print output, I print all visible output and this way no Log output is printed. So any comments I've added via ECHO are lost as well. There are several more inconveniences: with PRINTBACK set to ON (which I nearly always have ON), I get two ECHO outputs--one from the "displayed" command syntax, the other from the actual Output. ECHO is also limited to one line of text and I sometimes want to enter a more verbose explanation for the printout. COMMENT works pretty well for me, but I would like to separate COMMENTS from regular syntax printback in the log items. I found the Insert->Text menu item, and when I saw that it results in a different category of output than Log I was very excited. Now I am just looking for a way to insert that "SPSS Text" category of output directly from syntax.

Resolving The Problem

The ability to create an SPSS Text item via command syntax has been filed with SPSS Development as a feature request

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Historical Number

68096

Document Information

Modified date:
16 April 2020

UID

swg21476467