PSELECT= person selection criterion = *, all persons

Persons to be selected may be specified by using the PSELECT= instruction to match characters within the person name. Persons deleted by PDFILE= etc. are never selected by PSELECT=.

This can be done before analysis in the control file or with "Extra specifications". It can also be done after the analysis using the "Specification" pull-down menu.

Persons to be selected may be specified by using the PSELECT= instruction to match characters within the person name. Persons deleted by PDFILE= etc. are never selected by PSELECT=.

This can be done before analysis in the control file or with "Extra specifications". It can also be done after the analysis using the "Specification" pull-down menu.

Selection rules:

Control characters match label or name. They start at the first column of the label or name.

?        matches any character

*        matches any string of characters - must be last selection character.

A        matches A in the person label, and similarly all other characters except { }

{..}        braces characters which can match a single character: {ABC} matches A or B or C.

{.. - ..}        matches single characters in a range. {0-9} matches digits in the range 0 to 9.

{.. --..}        matches a single "-" {AB--} matches A or B or "-".

{~ABX}        omits person records which match A or B or X

Each PSELECT= performed using the "Specification" pull-down menu selects from all those analyzed. For incremental selections from the Specification menu, i.e., selecting from those already selected, specify +PSELECT=

Example 1:        Select for analysis only persons with M in the 5th column of person name. Person name starts in column 6 of the data record:

                       NAME1=6                Person name field starts in col. 6

                       NAMLEN=8                Person name field is 8 characters long

PSELECT=????M*        Column 5 of person name is sex

|

END NAMES

xxxxxBPL M J 01101000101001        selected

xxxxxMEL F S 01001000111100        omitted

-----1234selection column

Example 2:        Select for analysis all persons with code "A 4" in columns 2-4 of their names. Person name starts in column 23, so target characters starts in column 24:

NAME1=23                person name starts in column 23

PSELECT="?A 4*"        quotes because a blank is included. A is in col. 2 etc.

ZA 4PQRS        selected

Example 3:        Select all Male (M in column 2) persons who are Asian or Hispanic (A or H in column 4):

PSELECT="?M?{AH}*"

1M3A456 MPQRS                selected

1M5H689 ABCDE                selected

1X2A123 QWERT                omitted

Example 4:        Select Males (M in column 8) in School 23 (023 in column 14-16):

PSELECT=???????M?????023*

Selects: 1234567MABCDE023XYZ

Example 5:        Select codes 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, in column 2:

PSELECT=?{1-7}*

Example 6:        Analyze only males (column 4 or person-id). Then report only School C (column 1). Then only report Grades 4 and 5 (column 2) in School C.

PSELECT=???M*        in the Control file or at the Extra Specifications prompt.

PSELECT=C*                using the Specification pull-down menu, after the analysis

+PSELECT=?{45}*        using the Specification pull-down menu.

Example 7: There are 100000 examinees from 17 school districts in one data file. I want to process only 16 districts.

If the district code is one character, then you can select the 16 codes you want, for instance:

If the codes are letters in column 4 of the person label

PSELECT=???{ABDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR}

or

PSELECT=???{~C}        ; omits unwanted school district C

Example 8: If the field to be selected is already identified, then this simplifies counting the column:

@Dx = 16E17 ; $C44W2

16E17 means that the field is in columns 16 and 17 of the person label. Look at a data record to see what is actually there.

PSELECT=???????????????23        ; selects "23" in columns 16 and 17