-Most PSPP commands share a common structure, diagrammed below:
-
-@example
-@var{cmd}@dots{} [@var{sbc}[=][@var{spec} [[,]@var{spec}]@dots{}]] [[/[=][@var{spec} [[,]@var{spec}]@dots{}]]@dots{}].
-@end example
-
-@cindex @samp{[ ]}
-In the above, rather daunting, expression, pairs of square brackets
-(@samp{[ ]}) indicate optional elements, and names such as @var{cmd}
-indicate parts of the syntax that vary from command to command.
-Ellipses (@samp{...}) indicate that the preceding part may be repeated
-an arbitrary number of times. Let's pick apart what it says above:
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@cindex commands, names
-@item
-A command begins with a command name of one or more keywords, such as
-@cmd{FREQUENCIES}, @cmd{DATA LIST}, or @cmd{N OF CASES}. @var{cmd}
-may be abbreviated to its first word if that is unambiguous; each word
-in @var{cmd} may be abbreviated to a unique prefix of three or more
-characters as described above.
-
-@cindex subcommands
-@item
-The command name may be followed by one or more @dfn{subcommands}:
-
-@itemize @minus
-@item
-Each subcommand begins with a unique keyword, indicated by @var{sbc}
-above. This is analogous to the command name.
-
-@item
-The subcommand name is optionally followed by an equals sign (@samp{=}).
-
-@item
-Some subcommands accept a series of one or more specifications
-(@var{spec}), optionally separated by commas.
-
-@item
-Each subcommand must be separated from the next (if any) by a forward
-slash (@samp{/}).
-@end itemize
-
-@cindex dot, terminal
-@cindex terminal dot
-@item
-Each command must be terminated with a @dfn{terminal dot}.
-The terminal dot may be given one of three ways:
-
-@itemize @minus
-@item
-(most commonly) A period character at the very end of a line, as
-described above.
-
-@item
-(only if NULLINE is on: @xref{SET, , Setting user preferences}, for more
-details.) A completely blank line.
-
-@item
-(in batch mode only) Any line that is not indented from the left side of
-the page causes a terminal dot to be inserted before that line.
-Therefore, each command begins with a line that is flush left, followed
-by zero or more lines that are indented one or more characters from the
-left margin.
-
-In batch mode, PSPP will ignore a plus sign, minus sign, or period
-(@samp{+}, @samp{@minus{}}, or @samp{.}) as the first character in a
-line. Any of these characters as the first character on a line will
-begin a new command. This allows for visual indentation of a command
-without that command being considered part of the previous command.
-
-PSPP is in batch mode when it is reading input from a file, rather
-than from an interactive user. Note that the other forms of the
-terminal dot may also be used in batch mode.
-
-Sometimes, one encounters syntax files that are intended to be
-interpreted in interactive mode rather than batch mode (for instance,
-this can happen if a session log file is used directly as a syntax
-file). When this occurs, use the @samp{-i} command line option to force
-interpretation in interactive mode (@pxref{Language control options}).
-@end itemize
-@end itemize
-
-PSPP ignores empty commands when they are generated by the above
-rules. Note that, as a consequence of these rules, each command must
-begin on a new line.
+Most PSPP commands share a common structure. A command begins with a
+command name, such as @cmd{FREQUENCIES}, @cmd{DATA LIST}, or @cmd{N OF
+CASES}. The command name may be abbreviated to its first word, and
+each word in the command name may be abbreviated to its first three
+or more characters, where these abbreviations are unambiguous.
+
+The command name may be followed by one or more @dfn{subcommands}.
+Each subcommand begins with a subcommand name, which may be
+abbreviated to its first three letters. Some subcommands accept a
+series of one or more specifications, which follow the subcommand
+name, optionally separated from it by an equals sign
+(@samp{=}). Specifications may be separated from each other
+by commas or spaces. Each subcommand must be separated from the next (if any)
+by a forward slash (@samp{/}).
+
+There are multiple ways to mark the end of a command. The most common
+way is to end the last line of the command with a period (@samp{.}) as
+described in the previous section (@pxref{Tokens}). A blank line, or
+one that consists only of white space or comments, also ends a command
+by default, although you can use the NULLINE subcommand of @cmd{SET}
+to disable this feature (@pxref{SET}).
+
+In batch mode only, that is, when reading commands from a file instead
+of an interactive user, any line that contains a non-space character
+in the leftmost column begins a new command. Thus, each command
+consists of a flush-left line followed by any number of lines indented
+from the left margin. In this mode, a plus or minus sign
+(@samp{+}, @samp{@minus{}}) as the first character
+in a line is ignored and causes that line to begin a new command,
+which allows for visual indentation of a command without that command
+being considered part of the previous command.
projects / pspp-builds.git / blobdiff