SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

DEFINE—!ENDDEFINE 447
• This example is the same as the previous one, except that it assigns three tokens to one
argument instead of assigning one token to each of three arguments. The result is the
same.
Example
DEFINE macdef (!POS !TOKENS(1)
/!POS !TOKENS(1)
/!POS !TOKENS(1)
frequencies variables = !*.
!ENDDEFINE.
macdef V1 V2 V3.
• This is a third alternative for achieving the macro expansion shown in the previous two
examples. It specifies three arguments but then joins them all together on one FREQUEN-
CIES command using the symbol !*.
Assigning Tokens to Arguments
A token is a character or group of characters that has a predefined function in a specified
context. The argument definition must include a keyword that indicates which tokens
following the macro name are associated with each argument.
• Any program keyword, variable name, or delimiter (a slash, comma, etc.) is a valid token.
• The arguments for a given macro can use a combination of the token keywords.
!TOKENS (n) Assign the next n tokens to the argument. The value n can be any positive
integer and must be enclosed in parentheses. !TOKENS allows you
to specify exactly how many tokens are desired.
!CHAREND (’char’) Assign all tokens up to the specified character to the argument. The
character must be a one-character string specified in apostrophes and
enclosed in parentheses. !CHAREND specifies the character that ends
the argument assignment. This is useful when the number of assigned
tokens is arbitrary or not known in advance.
!ENCLOSE (’char’,’char’) Assign all tokens between the indicated characters to the argument.
The starting and ending characters can be any one-character strings,
and they do not need to be the same. The characters are each enclosed
in apostrophes and separated by a comma. The entire specification is
enclosed in parentheses. !ENCLOSE allows you to group multiple tokens
within a specified pair of symbols. This is useful when the number
of tokens to be assigned to an argument is indeterminate, or when
the use of an ending character is not sufficient.
!CMDEND Assign to the argument all of the remaining text on the macro call, up
to the start of the next command. !CMDEND is useful for changing the
defaults on an existing command. Since !CMDEND reads up to the next
command, only the last argument on the argument list can be specified
with !CMDEND. If !CMDEND is not the final argument, the arguments
following !CMDEND are read as text.