change a string variable containing last names into 0 and 1

[Joanna Koh]

I need your help. I need to convert a last name variable into 0 or 1 depending on presence or absence of a last name in that variable field.  If there is any last name, I will assign 1. If there is no name (blank), I need to convert it into 0. What is the simplest solution?

[Bruce Weaver]

You could do something like this, assuming your Last Name variable is called LastName:

COMPUTE LastNameFlag = LTRIM(RTRIM(LastName)) NE "".  
FORMATS LastNameFlag (f1).
VARIABLE LABELS LastNameFlag "Last name present".
VALUE LABELS LastNameFlag 1 "1-Yes" 0 "0-No".


You may not actually need the LTRIM and RTRIM -- I don't have SPSS on this machine to test it.

Joanna Koh wrote

I need your help. I need to convert a last name variable into 0 or 1 depending on presence or absence of a last name in that variable field.  If there is any last name, I will assign 1. If there is no name (blank), I need to convert it into 0. What is the simplest solution?

[David Marso]

Of course we can leave out the LTRIM(RTRIM(##)).
--

DATA LIST LIST / x (A10).
BEGIN DATA
jones
weaver      

end data.
COMPUTE Flag=x NE " ".
LIST.

x            Flag

jones      1.0000
weaver     1.0000
            .0000
Number of cases read:  3    Number of cases listed:  3

Bruce Weaver wrote

You could do something like this, assuming your Last Name variable is called LastName:

COMPUTE LastNameFlag = LTRIM(RTRIM(LastName)) NE "".  
FORMATS LastNameFlag (f1).
VARIABLE LABELS LastNameFlag "Last name present".
VALUE LABELS LastNameFlag 1 "1-Yes" 0 "0-No".


You may not actually need the LTRIM and RTRIM -- I don't have SPSS on this machine to test it.

Joanna Koh wrote

I need your help. I need to convert a last name variable into 0 or 1 depending on presence or absence of a last name in that variable field.  If there is any last name, I will assign 1. If there is no name (blank), I need to convert it into 0. What is the simplest solution?

[Joanna Koh]

Thanks for your help!  I tried your syntax as below:

COMPUTE PREP_NAMEFlag = PREPAPER_NAME_2011 NE " ".  
FORMATS PREP_NAMEFlag (f10).

but keep getting the following message:

IBS SPSS statistic processor is ready.  Transformation pending

When I checked the data, a new variable of PREP_NAME is created with a period in all records.

I waited for one hour and terminated it. Not sure what is wrong. Any suggestion?

[bdates]

Joanna,

Insert an 'Execute' after the 'Compute' statement.

COMPUTE PREP_NAMEFlag = PREPAPER_NAME_2011 NE " ".
EXECUTE .
FORMATS PREP_NAMEFlag (f10).


Transformation pending generally indicates that the system is waiting for 'Execute' to complete the process.

Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Joanna Koh
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 4:13 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: change a string variable containing last names into 0 and 1

Thanks for your help!  I tried your syntax as below:

COMPUTE PREP_NAMEFlag = PREPAPER_NAME_2011 NE " ".
FORMATS PREP_NAMEFlag (f10).

but keep getting the following message:

IBS SPSS statistic processor is ready.  Transformation pending

When I checked the data, a new variable of PREP_NAME is created with a
period in all records.

I waited for one hour and terminated it. Not sure what is wrong. Any
suggestion?



--
View this message in context: http://spssx-discussion.1045642.n5.nabble.com/change-a-string-variable-containing-last-names-into-0-and-1-tp5719418p5719431.html
Sent from the SPSSX Discussion mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

[Albert-Jan Roskam]

Nothing is wrong. Just use an EXECUTE or any other command that forces a data pass (e.g. FREQUENCIES).


Regards,
Albert-Jan


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a
fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>________________________________
> From: Joanna Koh <[hidden email]>
>To: [hidden email]
>Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 10:12 PM
>Subject: Re: [SPSSX-L] change a string variable containing last names into              0 and 1
>
>
>Thanks for your help!  I tried your syntax as below:
>
>COMPUTE PREP_NAMEFlag = PREPAPER_NAME_2011 NE " ".
>FORMATS PREP_NAMEFlag (f10).
>
>but keep getting the following message:
>
>IBS SPSS statistic processor is ready.  Transformation pending
>
>When I checked the data, a new variable of PREP_NAME is created with a
>period in all records.
>
>I waited for one hour and terminated it. Not sure what is wrong. Any
>suggestion?
>
>
>
>--
>View this message in context: http://spssx-discussion.1045642.n5.nabble.com/change-a-string-variable-containing-last-names-into-0-and-1-tp5719418p5719431.html
>Sent from the SPSSX Discussion mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>=====================
>To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
>[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
>command. To leave the list, send the command
>SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
>For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
>INFO REFCARD
>
>
>

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

[Bruce Weaver]

And since PREP_NAMEFlag will only have values of 1 or 0, I would make that format F1, not F10.  ;-)

bdates wrote

Joanna,

Insert an 'Execute' after the 'Compute' statement.

COMPUTE PREP_NAMEFlag = PREPAPER_NAME_2011 NE " ".
EXECUTE .
FORMATS PREP_NAMEFlag (f10).


Transformation pending generally indicates that the system is waiting for 'Execute' to complete the process.

Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Joanna Koh
Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 4:13 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: change a string variable containing last names into 0 and 1

Thanks for your help!  I tried your syntax as below:

COMPUTE PREP_NAMEFlag = PREPAPER_NAME_2011 NE " ".
FORMATS PREP_NAMEFlag (f10).

but keep getting the following message:

IBS SPSS statistic processor is ready.  Transformation pending

When I checked the data, a new variable of PREP_NAME is created with a
period in all records.

I waited for one hour and terminated it. Not sure what is wrong. Any
suggestion?



--
View this message in context: http://spssx-discussion.1045642.n5.nabble.com/change-a-string-variable-containing-last-names-into-0-and-1-tp5719418p5719431.html
Sent from the SPSSX Discussion mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

=====================
To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to
[hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the
command. To leave the list, send the command
SIGNOFF SPSSX-L
For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command
INFO REFCARD

[Robert Jones]

quite right, but note that you should use EXECUTE sparingly as it involves a full pass of the data.  Generally, if you have several transformation statements, e.g. several COMPUTEs, then just use one EXECUTE at the end and even that isn't necessary if your next statement is a SAVE, SORT, etc.  This is explained in better detail in the Syntax Command Reference manual which is available via Help.

regards, Robert

[Joanna Koh]

Thanks everyone! It works after I added execute or frequencies.  I also tried the following and it works very well, too.


DO IF ((PREPARER_NAME=" ")).
                COMPUTE DUMMY_prep = 0.
ELSE.
                COMPUTE DUMMY_prep = 1.                      
END IF.
EXECUTE.

Do you have any opinion about which syntax (between do if and flag) is better in terms of speed or efficiency?