Frequently, PSPP/SPSS syntax documentation (example) suggests I must to pass a list of variables with /VARIABLES=var_list and this is not an optional subcommand.
But I have a lot of datasets to process. I would like to programmatically get a list of all variables in the active dataset, pass that to a procedure, and then generate a file from the procedure output.
I've tried /VARIABLES=* but that didn't work.
error: DESCRIPTIVES: Syntax error at `*': expecting variable name.
You can use display variables. or display dictionary. to generate a table of all variables and their attributes which could then be captured using OMS. However if you want to pass all variables to a function that expects a list you can use all, i.e. descriptives /variables= all..
/VARIABLES is often optional in procedures, but ALL stands for all the variables. If you need to refine by a particular measurement level, type or other metadata, try the SPSSINC SELECT VARIABLES extension command. This command applies various filters based on the metadata and creates a macro with the variables that pass. You can then use that in any context.
