SCALAR directive

Declares one or more scalar data structures.


Options

VALUE = scalar
Value for all the scalars; default is a missing value

MODIFY = string
Whether to modify (instead of redefining) existing structures (yes, no); default no

IPRINT = strings
Information to be used to identify the scalars in output (identifier, extra); if this is not set, they will be identified in the standard way for each type of output


Parameters

IDENTIFIER = identifiers
Identifiers of the scalars

VALUE = scalars
Value for each scalar

DECIMALS = scalars
Number of decimal places for printing

EXTRA = texts
Extra text associated with each identifier

MINIMUM = scalars
Minimum value for the contents of each structure

MAXIMUM = scalars
Maximum value for the contents of each structure

DREPRESENTATION = scalars or texts
Default format to use when the contents represents a date and time


Description

A scalar data structure stores a single number. The IDENTIFIER parameter lists the identifiers of the scalars that are to be declared.

   Values can be assigned to the scalars by either the VALUE option or the VALUE parameter. The option defines a common value for all the structures in the declaration, while the parameter allows them each to be given a different value. If both the option and the parameter are specified, the parameter takes precedence. However, if you do not define a value explicitly for a scalar, GenStat gives it a missing value.

   The DECIMALS parameter allows you to define a number of decimal places to be used by default when each symmetric matrix is printed. You can associate a text of extra annotation with each scalar using the EXTRA parameter. The MINIMUM and MAXIMUM parameters allow you to define lower and upper limits on the values in each symmetric matrix. GenStat then prints warnings if any values outside that range are allocated to the scalar. The DREPRESENTATION parameter allows a scalar or a single-valued text to be specified for each scalar to indicate that the scalar stores a date and time, and to define a format to be used for this, by default, when it is printed; details are given in the description of the PRINT directive.

   If the MODIFY option is set to yes any existing attributes and values of the scalars are retained; otherwise these are lost. The IPRINT option can be set to specify how the scalars will be identified in output. If IPRINT is not set, they will be identified in whatever way is usual for the section of output concerned. For example, the PRINT directive generally uses their identifiers (although this can be changed using the IPRINT option of PRINT itself), while the ANOVA directive will print the identifier and the extra text for each y-variate.

 

Options: VALUE, MODIFY, IPRINT.

Parameters: IDENTIFIER, VALUE, DECIMALS, EXTRA, MINIMUM, MAXIMUM, DREPRESENTATION.