SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

446 DEFINE—!ENDDEFINE
• Three arguments are defined: arg1, arg2, and arg3, each with one token. In the first macro
call, arg1 is assigned the value V1, arg2 is assigned the value V2, and arg3 is assigned the
value V3. V1, V2, and V3 are then used as the variables in the FREQUENCIES command.
• The second macro call yields the same results as the first one. With keyword arguments,
you do not need to call the arguments in the order in which they were defined.
Positional Arguments
Positional arguments must be defined in the order in which they will be specified on the
macro call. In the macro body, the first positional argument is referred to by !1, the second
positional argument defined is referred to by !2, and so on. Similarly, the value of the first
argument in the macro call is assigned to !1, the value of the second argument is assigned to
!2, and so on.
• Positional arguments can be collectively referred to in the macro body by specifying !*.
The !* specification concatenates arguments, separating individual arguments with a
blank.
Example
DATA LIST FILE=MAC / V1 1-2 V2 4-5 V3 7-8.
* Macro definition.
DEFINE macdef (!POS !TOKENS(1)
/!POS !TOKENS(1)
/!POS !TOKENS(1))
frequencies variables = !1 !2 !3.
!ENDDEFINE.
* Macro call.
macdef V1 V2 V3.
macdef V3 V1 V2.
• Three positional arguments with one token each are defined. The first positional argument
is referred to by !1 on the FREQUENCIES command, the second by !2, and the third
by !3.
• When the first call expands the macro, the first positional argument (!1) is assigned the
value V1, the second positional argument (!2) is assigned the value V2, and the third positional
argument (!3) is assigned the value V3.
• In the second call, the first positional argument is assigned the value V3, the second positional
argument is assigned the value V1, and the third positional argument is assigned the
value V2.
Example
DEFINE macdef (!POS !TOKENS(3))
frequencies variables = !1.
!ENDDEFINE.
macdef V1 V2 V3.