Re: Xtab with strings/compute question

[John Darrington]

On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 10:44:39AM -0700, Sierra Bravo wrote:
     
     Dear all
     I'm trying to crosstabulate two string variables, and it seems to be
     instantly crashing the system. The syntax I'm using is the following:
     
     CROSSTABS
        /TABLES= Col1 Col2  BY   Col44
        /FORMAT=AVALUE LABELS TABLES PIVOT
        /STATISTICS=CHISQ
        /CELLS=COUNT ROW COLUMN TOTAL.
     
     Col1, Col2 and Col44 are string variables (1 & 2 are variables such as
     'Agree', 'Diagree' and 44 is  'a. 1-3 years', 'b. 3-5 years', 'c. 5-8 
years'
     etc). Is there some other recommended way to do a cross tab of this kind?

You don't mention which version of PSPP you are using.  There have been several 
bugs
with crosstabs fixed recently.  Perhaps it would be worth trying a later 
version.
     
     Also, I tried to create a new variable as follows (in order to extract the
     first letter):
     
     COMPUTE CAT=SUBSTRING(Col44,1,1)
     
The function is "substr" not "substring".  Also, string variables (unlike 
numeric ones) must be explicitly declared before they are assigned.  So 
something like:

STRING CAT (A1).
COMPUTE CAT=SUBSTR(Col44,1,1)

should do what you're attempting.

J'

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