FORMAT Subcommand (TSPLOT command)

FORMAT controls the plot format.

  • The specification on FORMAT is one of the keywords listed below.
  • Keywords NOFILL, BOTTOM, REFERENCE, and NOREFERENCE apply to plots with one variable. NOFILL and BOTTOM are alternatives that indicate how the plot is filled. NOREFERENCE and REFERENCE are alternatives that specify whether a reference line is displayed.
  • Keywords JOIN, NOJOIN, and HILO apply to plots with multiple variables and are alternatives. NOJOIN is the default. Only one keyword can be specified on a FORMAT subcommand for plots with multiple variables.

The following formats are available for plots with one variable:

NOFILL. Plot only the values for the variable with no fill. NOFILL produces a plot with no fill above or below the plotted values. This is the default format when one variable is specified.

BOTTOM. Plot the values for the variable and fill in the area below the curve. If the plotted variable has missing or negative values, BOTTOM is ignored and the default NOFILL is used instead.

NOREFERENCE. Do not plot a reference line. This is the default when one variable is specified.

REFERENCE(value) . Plot a reference line at the specified value or at the variable mean if no value is specified. A fill chart is displayed as an area chart with a reference line and a non-fill chart is displayed as a line chart with a reference line.

Figure 1. FORMAT=BOTTOM
FORMAT=BOTTOM
Figure 2. FORMAT=REFERENCE
FORMAT=REFERENCE

The following formats are available for plots with multiple variables:

NOJOIN. Plot the values of each variable named. Different colors or line patterns are used for multiple variables. Multiple occurrences of the same value for a single observation are plotted using a dollar sign ($). This is the default format for plots with multiple variables.

JOIN. Plot the values of each variable and join the values for each observation. Values are plotted as described for NOJOIN, and the values for each observation are joined together by a line.

HILO. Plot the highest and lowest values across variables for each observation and join the two values together. The high and low values are plotted as a horizontal bar and are joined with a line. If more than three variables are specified, HILO is ignored and the default NOJOIN is used.

Figure 3. FORMAT=HILO
FORMAT=HILO