Include file: Maximum length?
Thomas Koenig
apologies if thois question has already been answered, I have not been a
regular reader on this group, and only now searched on it for an answer.
So here is my problem (SPSS 11 on Win2000):
I created some sort of big syntaxi and incorporate them now through the
include-command in a master file. I tested each syntax seperately, and
they work when run seperately. They also work, when I paste them all
into a humongous sps-file.
However, when I try to neatly include them through the "include
command", the following error pops up:
*> Error # 4007 on line 4099 in column # 256. Text: (end of command),
Now, it seems that SPSS has cut the text after column 256 line 4099.
However, my text editor tells me the file in question has only 3731
lines (I guess, SPSS forces a line break in column 256). So I cannot
even determine, where exactly the file gets cut off.
So: My question now is: Is there a maximum file size for an spss-syntax
that is called by the INCLUDE command?
Hint: I do have an IntelliMouse driver installed, but the problem only
occurs, when I use the include command. Otherwise, the syntax can be
much bigger w/o any problems.
TIA for your help!
Thomas
Brendan Halpin
> *> Error # 4007 on line 4099 in column # 256. Text: (end of command),
>
> Now, it seems that SPSS has cut the text after column 256 line
> 4099. However, my text editor tells me the file in question has
> only 3731 lines (I guess, SPSS forces a line break in column 256).
> So I cannot even determine, where exactly the file gets cut off.
The problem is likely not number of lines, but line width. Find the
line longer than 256 characters and break it: that should solve the
problem.
In general it is a good idea to use a maximum of about 75 chars for
readability, but there is no need to go beyond 256.
Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-390476; Room F2-025 x 3147
<mailto:brendan...@ul.ie> <http://wivenhoe.staff8.ul.ie/~brendan>
Thomas Koenig
> The problem is likely not number of lines, but line width. Find the
> line longer than 256 characters and break it: that should solve the
> problem.
Thanks, Brendan. Unfortunately, that is not the origin of the problem.
My syntax has a maximum line lenghth of 216 characters, and indeed the
line length is not an issue, when I run the syntax from the main syntax
window.
I thought, it might be a problem alonmg the lines of:
but killing off the Point32 process did not help at all.
> In general it is a good idea to use a maximum of about 75 chars for
> readability, but there is no need to go beyond 256.
Now, why shouldn't you be able to compose longer lines and simply wrap
the text in your editor?
Thomas
Rich Ulrich
wrote:
> Brendan Halpin wrote:
> > The problem is likely not number of lines, but line width. Find the
> > line longer than 256 characters and break it: that should solve the
> > problem.
>
> Thanks, Brendan. Unfortunately, that is not the origin of the problem.
> My syntax has a maximum line lenghth of 216 characters, and indeed the
> line length is not an issue, when I run the syntax from the main syntax
> window.
Ah, but despite your claiim about 216,
the ERROR MESSAGE says that line length IS the issue.
I think you need to trust the error message....
SPSS sees more than 256.
Do you know about what defines "end of line"?
That is arbitrary on every operating system, and there
is more than one choice -- CR-LF (carriage-return,
line-feed) is the sequence in DOS, that means EOL.
Some folks use LF-CR or just LF.
Vax-VMS leaves them out entirely, and every line
is defined by a counter (and you don't want to transfer
ASCII in image-mode to any other OS, since that
will lose every EOL) .
If you have imported lines from VMS, a Unix machine,
or from an old Apple (I think), it is possible that your
software did not compensate, especially if you insisted
on the wrong options.
Hope this helps.
--
Rich Ulrich, wpi...@pitt.edu
http://www.pitt.edu/~wpilib/index.html
Neila Nessa
Just speculation:
You have a line which serves as a continuation while running in the
syntax window which begins in column 1. Note that lines which are
continuation lines within 'batch/include' processing must be indented
at least 1 character ;-)
BTW, no particular limit I know of for number of lines in a syntax
file.
HTH, Neila
Thomas Koenig
>>Thanks, Brendan. Unfortunately, that is not the origin of the problem.
>>My syntax has a maximum line lenghth of 216 characters, and indeed the
>>line length is not an issue, when I run the syntax from the main syntax
>>window.
>
>
> Ah, but despite your claiim about 216,
> the ERROR MESSAGE says that line length IS the issue.
>
> I think you need to trust the error message....
You would indeed think that given the cryptic error messages SPSS
delivers, at least these messages were accurate. However, that is not
the case, as the problem was the one Neila mentioned below.
> Do you know about what defines "end of line"?
I have no idea what defines EOL in DOS/Win/Unix. But I did have the same
idea (that CR might be defined incorrectly), so I experimented with all
file formats my editor supports to no avail.
Thanks for your sugesstions!
Thomas
Thomas Koenig
> You have a line which serves as a continuation while running in the
> syntax window which begins in column 1. Note that lines which are
> continuation lines within 'batch/include' processing must be indented
> at least 1 character ;-)
Yap, that was exactly the mistake I made. Thanks, Neila.
Thomas
Andreas Völp
exceed a line length of 80 (!) characters (I think this is a burden
inherited from the good old punchcard days ...).
--
Liebe Grüße / Best regards,
Andreas Völp
psy consult scientific services
Frankfurt am Main - Germany
"Thomas Koenig" <fo...@gmx.li> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:b6qlgo$asq$1...@gwdu112.gwdg.de...
g...@heaven.com
> If you waht to be sure that your syntax runs on *any* SPSS system, do not
> exceed a line length of 80 (!) characters (I think this is a burden
> inherited from the good old punchcard days ...).
And to make syntax that will work in any mode ("batch", "include", etc),
make sure to also:
Start every statement in the leftmost column.
Indent all continuation lines.
End all statements with a period.
Rich Ulrich
- but leave a blank before the period.
On Vax-VMS, today, where "xpart1" was a macro
that contained 10 variable names --
SPSS flagged "vars=xpart1." as having an illegal
variable name; the error went away when I re-ran
after sticking in one blank.