Controlling column elements to control variables in the data file

In the Options dialog box of the Output Management System Control Panel, you can specify which dimension elements should be in the columns and therefore will be used to create variables in the generated data file. This process is equivalent to pivoting the table in the Viewer.

For example, the Frequencies procedure produces a descriptive statistics table with statistics in the rows, while the Descriptives procedure produces a descriptive statistics table with statistics in the columns. To include both table types in the same data file in a meaningful fashion, you need to change the column dimension for one of the table types.

Because both table types use the element name "Statistics" for the statistics dimension, we can put the statistics from the Frequencies statistics table in the columns simply by specifying "Statistics" (in quotation marks) in the list of dimension names in the OMS Options dialog box.

Some of the variables will have missing values, because the table structures still aren't exactly the same with statistics in the columns.