FORMAT Specification (MATRIX-END MATRIX command)

FORMAT specifies how the matrix processor should interpret the input data. The format descriptor can be any valid IBM® SPSS® Statistics data format, such as F6, E12.2, or A6, or it can be a type code; for example, F, E, or A.

  • If you omit the FORMAT specification, the default is F.
  • You can specify the width of fixed-size data fields with either a FORMAT specification or a BY clause on a FIELD specification. You can include it in both places only if you specify the same value.
  • If you do not include either a FORMAT or a BY clause on FIELD, READ expects values separated by blanks or commas.
  • An additional way of specifying the width is to supply a repetition factor without a width (for example, 10F, 5COMMA, or 3E). The field width is then calculated by dividing the width of the whole input area on the FIELD specification by the repetition factor. A format with a digit for the repetition factor must be enclosed in quotes.
  • Only one format can be specified. A specification such as FORMAT='5F2.0 3F3.0 F2.0' is invalid.