+@c PSPP - a program for statistical analysis.
+@c Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+@c Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
+@c under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
+@c or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
+@c with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
+@c A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
+@c Free Documentation License".
+@c
@node Variable Attributes
@chapter Manipulating variables
the corresponding new variable name. Multiple parenthesized groups of
variables may be specified.
-The @subcmd{DROP} subcommand deletes a specified list of variables from the
-active dataset.
+The @subcmd{DROP} subcommand deletes a specified list of variables
+from the active dataset. @cmd{MODIFY VARS} may not be used to delete
+all variables from the dictionary; use @cmd{NEW FILE} to do that
+(@pxref{NEW FILE}).
The @subcmd{KEEP} subcommand keeps the specified list of variables in the active
dataset. Any unlisted variables are deleted from the active dataset.
@vindex NUMERIC
@display
-NUMERIC /@var{var_list} [(@var{fmt_spec})].
+NUMERIC @var{var_list} [(@var{fmt_spec})] [/@var{var_list} [(@var{fmt_spec})]]@dots{}
@end display
@cmd{NUMERIC} explicitly declares new numeric variables, optionally
setting their output formats.
-Specify a slash (@samp{/}), followed by the names of the new numeric
-variables. If you wish to set their output formats, follow their names
-by an output format specification in parentheses (@pxref{Input and Output
+Specify the names of the new numeric variables as @var{var_list}. If
+you wish to set the variables' output formats, follow their names by
+an output format specification in parentheses (@pxref{Input and Output
Formats}); otherwise, the default is F8.2.
Variables created with @cmd{NUMERIC} are initialized to the
To make a vector out of a set of existing variables, specify a name
for the vector followed by an equals sign (@samp{=}) and the variables
-to put in the vector. All the variables in the vector must be the same
-type. String variables in a vector must all have the same width.
+to put in the vector. The variables must be all numeric or all
+string, and string variables must have the same width.
To make a vector and create variables at the same time, specify one or
-more vector names followed by a count in parentheses. This will cause
-variables named @code{@var{vec}1} through @code{@var{vec}@var{count}}
-to be created as numeric variables. By default, the new variables
-have print and write format F8.2, but an alternate format may be
-specified inside the parentheses before or after the count and
-separated from it by white space or a comma. Variable names including
-numeric suffixes may not exceed 64 characters in length, and none of
-the variables may exist prior to @cmd{VECTOR}.
+more vector names followed by a count in parentheses. This will
+create variables named @code{@var{vec}1} through
+@code{@var{vec}@var{count}}. By default, the new variables are
+numeric with format F8.2, but an alternate format may be specified
+inside the parentheses before or after the count and separated from it
+by white space or a comma. With a string format such as A8, the
+variables will be string variables; with a numeric format, they will
+be numeric. Variable names including the suffixes may not exceed 64
+characters in length, and none of the variables may exist prior to
+@cmd{VECTOR}.
Vectors created with @cmd{VECTOR} disappear after any procedure or
procedure-like command is executed. The variables contained in the