SPSS® 12.0 Command Syntax Reference

MSAVE Statement: Writing SPSS Matrix Data Files
MATRIX—END MATRIX 953
The MSAVE statement writes matrix expressions to an SPSS matrix-format data file that can
be used as matrix input to other SPSS procedures. (See MATRIX DATA for a discussion of
matrix-format data files.) The syntax of MSAVE is as follows:
MSAVE matrix expression
/TYPE = {COV }
{CORR }
{MEAN }
{STDDEV}
{N }
{COUNT }
[/OUTFILE = {file reference}]
{* }
[/VARIABLES = variable list]
[/SNAMES = variable list]
[/SPLIT = split vector]
[/FNAMES = variable list]
[/FACTOR = factor vector]
• Only one matrix-format data file can be saved in a single matrix program.
• Each MSAVE statement writes records of a single rowtype. Therefore, several MSAVE statements
will normally be required to write a complete matrix-format data file.
• Most specifications are retained from one MSAVE statement to the next so that it is not
necessary to repeat the same specifications on a series of MSAVE statements. The exception
is the FACTOR specification, as noted below.
Example
MSAVE M /TYPE=MEAN /OUTFILE=CORRMAT /VARIABLES=V1 TO V8.
MSAVE S /TYPE STDDEV.
MSAVE MAKE(1,8,24) /TYPE N.
MSAVE C /TYPE CORR.
• The series of MSAVE statements save the matrix variables M, S, and C, which contain,
respectively, vectors of means and standard deviations and a matrix of correlation coefficients.
The SPSS matrix-format data file thus created is suitable for use in a procedure such
as FACTOR.
• The first MSAVE statement saves M as a vector of means. This statement specifies OUTFILE,
a previously defined file handle, and VARIABLES, a list of variable names to be used in the
SPSS data file.
• The second MSAVE statement saves S as a vector of standard deviations. Note that the
OUTFILE and VARIABLES specifications do not have to be repeated.
• The third MSAVE statement saves a vector of case counts. The matrix function MAKE
constructs an eight-element vector with values equal to the case count (24 in this example).
• The last MSAVE statement saves C, an 8 ×
8 matrix, as the correlation matrix.
Matrix Expression Specification
• The matrix expression must be specified first on the MSAVE statement.