I recently had a set of SPSS syntax that iterated over multiple variables and generated many similar graphs. They were time series graphs of multiple variables, so the time stayed the same but the variable on the Y axis changed and the code also changed the titles of the graphs. Initially I was using the
% string substitution with a (long) list of replacements. Here is a brief synonymous example.
*Creating some fake data.
MATRIX.
SAVE {UNIFORM(100,6)} /OUTFILE = * /VARIABLES = V1 TO V3 X1 TO X3.
END MATRIX.
DATASET NAME x.
*Crazy long string substitution.
BEGIN PROGRAM Python.
import spss
#my variable and label lists
var = ["V1","V2","V3"]
lab = ["Var 1","Var 2","Var 3"]
for v,l in zip(var,lab):
spss.Submit("""
*Descriptive statistics.
FREQ %s.
CORRELATIONS /VARIABLES=X1 X2 X3 %s.
*Graph 1.
GRAPH /SCATTERPLOT(BIVAR)=X1 WITH %s /TITLE = "%s".
*Graph 2.
GRAPH /SCATTERPLOT(BIVAR)=X2 WITH %s /TITLE = "%s".
*Graph 3.
GRAPH /SCATTERPLOT(BIVAR)=X3 WITH %s /TITLE = "%s".
""" % (v,v,v,l,v,l,v,l))
END PROGRAM.
When you only have to substitute one or two things,
"str %s and %s" % (one,two) is no big deal, but here is quite annoying having to keep track of the location of all the separate variables when the list grows. Also we are really just recycling the same object to be replaced multiple times. I thought this is
python, so there must be an easier way, and sure enough there is! A simple alternative is to use the
format modifier to a string object. Format can take a vector of arguments, so the prior example would be
"str {0} and {1}".format(one,two). Instead of
%s, you place brackets and the index position of the argument (and Python has zero based indices, so the first element is always 0).
Here is the SPSS syntax updated to use format for string substitution.
*This is much simpler using ".format" for substitution.
BEGIN PROGRAM Python.
var = ["V1","V2","V3"]
lab = ["Var 1","Var 2","Var 3"]
for v,l in zip(var,lab):
spss.Submit("""
*Descriptive statistics.
FREQ {0}.
CORRELATIONS /VARIABLES=X1 X2 X3 {0}.
*Graph 1.
GRAPH /SCATTERPLOT(BIVAR)=X1 WITH {0} /TITLE = "{1}".
*Graph 2.
GRAPH /SCATTERPLOT(BIVAR)=X2 WITH {0} /TITLE = "{1}".
*Graph 3.
GRAPH /SCATTERPLOT(BIVAR)=X3 WITH {0} /TITLE = "{1}".
""".format(v,l))
END PROGRAM.
Much simpler. You can use a dictionary with the
% substitution
to the same effect, but here the format modifier is a quite simple solution. Another option I might explore more in the future are using
string templates, which seem a good candidate for long strings of SPSS code.
#data-manipulation#Programmability#python#SPSS#SPSSStatistics