SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

54 Universals
Table 6 Missing values in arguments (Continued)
Function Returns system-missing if
CFVAR.n (x1,x2,...xk) fewer than n arguments are valid; the default n is 2
SD.n (x1,x2,...xk)
VARIANCE.n (x1,x2,...xk)
LPAD(x1,x2,x3) x1 or x2 is illegal or missing
LTRIM(x1,x2)
RTRIM(x1,x2)
RPAD(x1,x2,x3)
SUBSTR(x1,x2,x3) x2 or x3 is illegal or missing
NUMBER(x,format) the conversion is invalid
STRING(x,format)
INDEX(x1,x2,x3) x3 is invalid or missing
RINDEX(x1,x2,x3)
LAG (x,n) x is missing n cases previously (and always for the first n cases);
the default n is 1
ANY (x,x1,x2,...xk) x or all of x1, x2, ..., xk are missing
RANGE (x,x1,x2,...xk)
VALUE (x) x is system-missing
MISSING (x) never
NMISS (x1,x2,...xk)
NVALID (x1,x2,...xk)
SYSMIS (x)
• Any function that is not listed in Table 6 returns the system-missing value when the
argument is missing.
• The system-missing value is a displayed as a period (.) for numeric variables.
• String variables do not have system-missing values. An invalid string expression nested
within a complex transformation yields a null string, which is passed to the next level of
operation and treated as missing. However, an invalid string expression that is not nested
is displayed as a blank string and is not treated as missing.