Any way to force SPSS 17 to use commas in formatting tables?

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Moi Iom - 26 Feb 2010 14:26 GMT

I'm working with large numbers, and can't tell at a glance whether a number
is millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, billions, or what. I
have to copy output tables (from crosstabs, frequencies, etc.) into Excel so
I can see the numbers with commas.

I've searched the options--overall and for specific features, such as
crosstabs and frequencies--but I don't see any place to tell SPSS to use
commas when formatting output tables. I did find the option to prevent SPSS
from using scientific notation for small numbers, but nothing about commas.
Is there something obvious I'm overlooking? I've talked to other local
users, and they all have the same problem.

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JKPeck - 26 Feb 2010 16:35 GMT

> I'm working with large numbers, and can't tell at a glance whether a number
> is millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, billions, or what. I
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Is there something obvious I'm overlooking? I've talked to other local
> users, and they all have the same problem.

In many cases SPSS formats output based on formats of the input
variables. If you set those to one of the grouping formats, you may
get what you want. The grouping formats are COMMA to use a comma
grouping separator and period decimal and DOT to do the reverse. You
can set these in syntax with FORMATS or in the Type field in the Data
Editor variable view.

You can also set these formats directly in pivot tables by using Cell
Properties in the pivot table editor. This can be automated with the
SPSSINC MODIFY TABLES extension command by using
customstylefunctions.SetNumericFormats('#,###.##')
for example.

HTH,
Jon Peck

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Math Forum / Math Software / SPSS / February 2010

Any way to force SPSS 17 to use commas in formatting tables?