Forming Commands

Most PSPP commands share a common structure. A command begins with a command name, such as FREQUENCIES, DATA LIST, or 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 "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 (=). 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 (/).

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 (.) as described in the previous section. A blank line, or one that consists only of white space or comments, also ends a command.