Necia,

Thanks a lot for your explanations. Question:

> > There may be nothing wrong with the syntax, but "transformations" will not > get executed until SPSS encounters a procedure,

What is considered by SPSS as "procedure"?

OR, an execute command if > you have no procedure immediately following the transformations. Execute > would probably only be needed after the end of the END REPEAT, but you can > force execution with multiple execute commands if you like.

It appears I have no clue when to use "exec"!

> > The syntax you have shown has NO procedure listed. Have you ever noticed > the message "execution pending" while running a program? It's waiting for > something, like EXECUTE or a procedure, to trigger the running of the > "transformations". > > HTH. I really did like the days of syntax! > Cheers, > Necia > > Necia A. Black, Ph.D. e-mail: black@buffalo.edu > 246 Computing Center Web URL:http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~black > SUNY-Buffalo FAX: (716) 645-3734 > Buffalo, New York 14260 Phone: (716) 645-3572 > > On Tue, 3 May 2005, Max wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> What is wrong with following syntax (SPSS 12)? It complains about "exec" >> inside DO REPEAT, but without "exec" values are not calculated for meds: >> >> /*------------------------------start----------------. >> compute meds = 0 . >> exec . >> >> DEFINE calc_meds (arg1 = !TOKENS(1)) >> compute dummy = 0. >> exec. >> IF (!arg1 ~= LAG(!arg1)) dummy = dummy+1 . >> exec. >> IF (dates >= DATE.DMY(13, 7, 1999)) dummy = dummy+LAG(dummy) . >> exec. >> compute meds = meds + dummy . >> exec. >> !ENDDEFINE. >> >> DO REPEAT medic = apo_acetaminophen TO spectrum.29 . >> calc_meds arg1 = medic . >> END REPEAT print. >> exec. >> /*----------------------------------end---------------. >> >> >> >> >