SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

VECTOR 1659
• In this example, there are potential name conflicts between the scalars (the variables
named on NUMERIC), the vectors (named on VECTOR), and the statistical function
MINIMUM.
• A name that is not followed by a left parenthesis is treated as a scalar.
• When a name followed by a left parenthesis may refer to a vector element or a function,
precedence is given to the vector.
VECTOR outside a Loop Structure
VECTOR is most commonly associated with the loop structure, since the index variable for
LOOP can be used as the subscript. However, the subscript can come from elsewhere,
including from the data.
Example
* Create a single case for each of students 1, 2, and 3.
DATA LIST /STUDENT 1 SCORE 3-4 TESTNUM 6.
BEGIN DATA
1 10 1
1 20 2
1 30 3
1 40 4
2 15 2
2 25 3
3 40 1
3 55 3
3 60 4
END DATA.
VECTOR RESULT(4).
COMPUTE RESULT(TESTNUM)=SCORE.
AGGREGATE OUTFILE=*/BREAK=STUDENT
/RESULT1 TO RESULT4=MAX(RESULT1 TO RESULT4).
PRINT FORMATS RESULT1 TO RESULT4 (F2.0).
PRINT /STUDENT RESULT1 TO RESULT4.
EXECUTE.
• Data are scores on tests recorded in separate cases along with a student identification
number and a test number. In this example, there are four possible tests for three students.
Not all students took every test.
• Vector RESULT creates variables RESULT1 through RESULT4.
• For each case, COMPUTE assigns the SCORE value to one of the four vector variables,
depending on the value of TESTNUM. The other three vector variables for each case keep
the system-missing value they were initialized to.