3.1 Main Options
Here is a summary of all the options, grouped by type, followed by
explanations in the same order.
In the table, arguments to long options also apply to any
corresponding short options.
- Non-option arguments
-
syntax-file
- Output options
-
-o, --output=output-file
-O option=value
-O format=format
-O device={terminal|listing}
--no-output
-e, --error-file=error-file
- Language options
-
-I, --include=dir
-I-, --no-include
-b, --batch
-i, --interactive
-r, --no-statrc
-a, --algorithm={compatible|enhanced}
-x, --syntax={compatible|enhanced}
--syntax-encoding=encoding
- Informational options
-
-h, --help
-V, --version
- Other options
-
-s, --safer
--testing-mode
- syntax-file
- Read and execute the named syntax file. If no syntax files are
specified, pspp prompts for commands. If any syntax files are
specified, pspp by default exits after it runs them, but you may make
it prompt for commands by specifying ‘-’ as an additional syntax
file.
- -o output-file
- Write output to output-file. pspp has several different output
drivers that support output in various formats (use --help to
list the available formats). Specify this option more than once to
produce multiple output files, presumably in different formats.
Use ‘-’ as output-file to write output to standard output.
If no -o option is used, then pspp writes output to standard
output in plain text format.
- -O option=value
- Sets an option for the output file configured by a preceding
-o. Most options are specific to particular output formats.
A few options that apply generically are listed below.
- -O format=format
- pspp uses the extension of the file name given on -o to
select an output format. Use this option to override this choice by
specifying an alternate format, e.g. -o pspp.out -O html to
write HTML to a file named pspp.out. Use --help to
list the available formats.
- -O device={terminal|listing}
- Sets whether pspp considers the output device configured by the
preceding -o to be a terminal or a listing device. This
affects what output will be sent to the device, as configured by the
SET command's output routing subcommands (see SET). By default,
output written to standard output is considered a terminal device and
other output is considered a listing device.
- --no-output
- Disables output entirely, if neither -o nor -O is
also used. If one of those options is used, --no-output has
no effect.
- -e error-file
- --error-file=error-file
- Configures a file to receive pspp error, warning, and note messages in
plain text format. Use ‘-’ as error-file to write messages
to standard output. The default error file is standard output in the
absence of these options, but this is suppressed if an output device
writes to standard output (or another terminal), to avoid printing
every message twice. Use ‘none’ as error-file to
explicitly suppress the default.
- -I dir
- --include=dir
- Appends dir to the set of directories searched by the
INCLUDE
(see INCLUDE) and INSERT
(see INSERT) commands.
- -I-
- --no-include
- Clears all directories from the include path, including directories
inserted in the include path by default. The default include path is
. (the current directory), followed by .pspp in the
user's home directory, followed by pspp's system configuration
directory (usually /etc/pspp or /usr/local/etc/pspp).
- -b
- --batch
- -i
- --interactive
- These options forces syntax files to be interpreted in batch mode or
interactive mode, respectively, rather than the default “auto” mode.
See Syntax Variants, for a description of the differences.
- -r
- --no-statrc
- Disables running rc at pspp startup time.
- -a {enhanced|compatible}
- --algorithm={enhanced|compatible}
- With
enhanced
, the default, pspp uses the best implemented
algorithms for statistical procedures. With compatible
,
however, pspp will in some cases use inferior algorithms to produce
the same results as the proprietary program SPSS.
Some commands have subcommands that override this setting on a per
command basis.
- -x {enhanced|compatible}
- --syntax={enhanced|compatible}
- With
enhanced
, the default, pspp accepts its own extensions
beyond those compatible with the proprietary program SPSS. With
compatible
, pspp rejects syntax that uses these extensions.
- --syntax-encoding=encoding
- Specifies encoding as the encoding for syntax files named on the
command line. The encoding also becomes the default encoding
for other syntax files read during the pspp session by the
INCLUDE
and INSERT
commands. See INSERT, for the
accepted forms of encoding.
- --help
- Prints a message describing pspp command-line syntax and the available
device formats, then exits.
- -V
- --version
- Prints a brief message listing pspp's version, warranties you don't
have, copying conditions and copyright, and e-mail address for bug
reports, then exits.
- -s
- --safer
- Disables certain unsafe operations. This includes the
ERASE
and
HOST
commands, as well as use of pipes as input and output files.
- --testing-mode
- Invoke heuristics to assist with testing pspp. For use
by make check and similar scripts.