Hello all,

I tried many times to run Process Model 1 bei Hayes but always received the following error message:

>Warning # 206 in column 3. Text: \ >An invalid character has been found on a command.

>Warning # 206 in column 7. Text: \ >An invalid character has been found on a command.

>Warning # 208 in column 35. Text: + >A text string is not correctly enclosed in quotation marks on the command >line. Literals may not be continued across command lines without the use of >the continuation symbol '+'.

>Warning # 226 >The input string is longer than the allowed maximum, 32767, and will be >truncated. Was the ending quote on a text string omitted?

>Warning # 209 >A truncation error occurred while writing to the command journal file. Please >check the contents of this file before using it as input to SPSS Statistics.

>Warning # 207 in column 2

Does anyone have a solution for this issue?

Thanks in advance

There isn't nearly enough information here for anyone to help you. At the least, you need to post the syntax you used to invoke the Hayes macro. One tip, though, is this error message:

>A text string is not correctly enclosed in quotation marks on the command line.

If you have a string with an opening quote, maybe you are missing the closing quote.

>Warning # 208 in column 35. Text: + >A text string is not correctly enclosed in quotation marks on the command >line. Literals may not be continued across command lines without the use of >the continuation symbol '+'.

That doesn't tell us anything more than the first message. You need to post the actual syntax you ran (not the macro definition). And look for unclosed quoted strings

Warning # 208 in column 35. Text: + >A text string is not correctly enclosed in quotation marks on the command >line. Literals may not be continued across command lines without the use of >the continuation symbol '+'.

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I was just trying to install process by Hayes as described online. Then I wanted to run the analysis. So I have nothing to do with creating the syntax or macro. My issue seems like a more global one if you are looking at the following page mentioning my issue too:

Question: I am getting an error message in PROCESS v3 that reads:

>Warning # 206 in column 3. Text: \

>An invalid character has been found on a command.

>Warning # 206 in column 7. Text: \

>An invalid character has been found on a command.

>Warning # 208 in column 35. Text: +

>A text string is not correctly enclosed in quotation marks on the command

>line. Literals may not be continued across command lines without the use of

>the continuation symbol '+'.

>Warning # 226

>The input string is longer than the allowed maximum, 32767, and will be

>truncated. Was the ending quote on a text string omitted?

>Warning # 209

>A truncation error occurred while writing to the command journal file. Please

>check the contents of this file before using it as input to SPSS Statistics.

>Warning # 207 in column 2. Text: \n compute hasw=0.\n compute hasz=0.\n compute jnok=0.\n compute nm1vls=0.\n compute nm2vls=0.\n compute panelgrp=0.\n compute graphixs={"WITH", outnames(1,i), "BY"}.\n compute focpred4={" "}.\n compute intprint=0.\n compute modca

>A '+' was found following a text string, indicating continuation, but the next

>non-blank character was not a quotation mark or an apostrophe.

Answer: This error appeared with the release of SPSS27. It seems to occur for some users operating on MacOS and some Windows OS as of version 27 of SPSS. I have not been able to replicate in on SPSS27 on my Windows machine. Because it suddenly appeared for some users after installing SPSS 27 even though the PROCESS code has not changed, this tells me this has nothing to do with PROCESS and so there is nothing I can do to help you. I recommend contacting IBM for assistance. Note that the repeated instances of "\n" that show up in the last warning is a character representation of a line feed in the code. "\n" doesn't ever actually appear in the code. So it looks to me like the SPSS code is being misinterpreted by some installations of SPSS27 and operating systems. Again, this has nothing to do with PROCESS and so there is nothing I can do to fix this or help you. Contact IBM technical support for assistance.

(http://www.processmacro.org/faq.html#spss27)

IBM has told me that they are not responsible, but who is then responsible...

Hope anyone has an idea

Start by installing the SPSS 27.0.1 fixpack to see if that helps.

I was able to install PROCESS 3.5 with V27 without a problem even on 27.0.0, but see if the fixpack helps.

Apparently you are getting the error when you try to run the process from the dialog box. If you use the Paste button, you can see the code it generated.

Hey Jon,

thank you for your answer. I am currently using the trial version so I can not install the fixpack for V27. Do you think the trial version is the reason of error? I would buy the full version if I would be sure that the process macro works, but unfortunately I am not. What would be your advice?

I reinstalled this macro using 27.0.1. The installation succeeded, but I get the reported error when I run a simple model. Pasting the syntax and evaluating part by part, I see that the error arises in or after the last macro definition, probe. There is a problem with quote resolution. I will investigate this further to see if I can resolve it.

This has nothing to do with the trial version.

More news later.

Thank you Jon! Good to know that it has nothing to do with the trial version.

I just know that it is a widespread problem. Many students I know and my professor have the same issue. I can find in different forums that it isn't a new problem: https://www.reddit.com/r/spss/comments/jymgw3/andrew_hayes_process_error/

There isn't nearly enough information here for anyone to help you. At the least, you need to post the syntax you used to invoke the Hayes macro. One tip, though, is this error message:

Looking at the code generated by the dialog in V27, I can see that it goes awry after all the macros are defined. With V24 the code is okay, so something got broken in between.

I don't see an easy way to fix this. Development is looking into it.

The problem, however, is in the dialog box code generation. Hayes posted instructions on how to execute this code just using syntax. You have to run the macro definition code once in the session, and then the PROCESS code is pretty simple. So I suggest that for now you follow the syntax route and don't try to use the dialog box.

Sorry.

Thank you very much for your efforts, Jon. I do not know whether this additional information can be of any help, but PROCESS and its dialog box worked for me perfectly in SPSS V26 and also in V25 (as I remember I had no problem with it at all from V22 or so).

Unfortunately, in V27 I am also experiencing the same problem mentioned in this thread.

I'm getting this same issue (with the premium version of SPSS). Is there a solution?

see the answer below