Syntax language

Open the syntax editor from the Data menu (Data → "Syntax editor…"). It runs an executable subset of PSPP syntax: commands end with a period, the output panel lists one result per command, and failures are labelled with a line number you can click to jump back to the source.

This page covers the language layer added in v1.5.0 (comments, macros, INCLUDE, error locations, .sps round-trip); the list of executable commands lives in Transforms.

Comments

Following PSPP, a comment introduced by * or COMMENT is not "the rest of this line" — it runs to the next end-of-line period or to a blank line:

* Some explanation.
COMPUTE x = score + 1.

The comment above ends at its period, so COMPUTE still runs. Details:

• Only an end-of-line period closes the comment: * see the v1.2.0 notes (inner periods do not close it). is one comment in full;
• COMMENT is equivalent to * and may span several lines, again ending at an end-of-line period;
• a blank line also ends a comment;
• an inline /* … */ is stripped and does not disturb the arguments: COMPUTE x = score /* add one */ + 1.;
• a line holding nothing but /* … */ ends the current command, as in PSPP:

COMPUTE x = score + 1
/* this command has no period yet; end it here */
LIST.

• when a comment swallows following commands (usually a missing period) the editor shows a hint instead of silently dropping commands:

* missing period
LIST.

Macros

DEFINE !show(vars=!DEFAULT(pre) !TOKENS(1))
DESCRIPTIVES !vars.
!ENDDEFINE.

!show vars=post.
!show.

• Arguments: positional (!POSITIONAL, referenced as !1, !2, …) and keyword arguments, read with !TOKENS(n), !CHAREND('/') or !CMDEND, plus defaults via !DEFAULT(value); the two kinds may be mixed;
• Calls: !show vars=post. (PSPP style) or !sum2(pre, post). (parenthesised, for SPSS habits);
• Macro functions: !CONCAT !QUOTE !UNQUOTE !UPCASE !LENGTH !SUBSTR !HEAD !TAIL !INDEX !EVAL !BLANKS !NULL; macro calls inside arguments expand first (!CONCAT(!a, _2));
• Flow control: !LET for local variables, !IF / !THEN / !ELSE / !ENDIF, and !DO / !TO / !BY / !DOEND loops, nestable;
• self-recursion has a depth limit; redefining a macro with DEFINE replaces the old one; DEFINE inside a comment is not registered.

Constructs this version does not implement report "unsupported" instead of being ignored: !DO !v !IN (…), !ENCLOSE, !NOEXPAND / !OFFEXPAND / !ONEXPAND.

INCLUDE

INCLUDE 'common.sps'.
INCLUDE FILE='common.sps' ENCODING='UTF-8'.

• the included file is injected into the current script and run with it, and the macro table carries over: a DEFINE in an included file applies to later commands;
• relative paths resolve against the directory of the current .sps file, not the launch directory;
• circular includes are an error; nesting is capped at 16 levels;
• an error inside an included file stops the remaining commands (PSPP semantics: an error in an included file aborts the whole script);
• output labels commands from that file with its name and line number, and clicking jumps back.

Error locations

• every command carries a start and end position; failures are labelled "line N" and clicking moves the caret to that line;
• commands produced by macro expansion trace back to their original position (expansion does not lose line/column information);
• cases that are suspicious but not errors — a comment swallowing commands, for instance — are reported as hints, distinct from failures.

.sps round-trip

• Open: a UTF-8 BOM is stripped first; invalid bytes are replaced with U+FFFD and the number of replacements is reported rather than silently discarded;
• Save overwrites the current file, Save as picks a new path; files are written as UTF-8 without a BOM, so PSPP reads them directly;
• the editor has a command template bar at the top for inserting commands, and "Attach dataset" adds another .sav or project file (see Transforms).