Entering Data

Other Options

The pop-up data menu has a couple of useful options for filling in blocks of data and for selecting the actions taken by the Enter and Tab keys.

Click on the button at the upper left corner of the data window to display the data pop-up menu. Choose Fill Values to modify selected values in the data window. If you have variables, observations, or values selected, you are prompted to specify a Value and an Increment. If you have no selections, you are prompted to specify variables and observations.

Figure 2.31: Fill Values Dialog

In the Fill Values dialog, the Value field can be either character or numeric. If the value is numeric, you can use the Increment field to specify an increment or step value. For example, to fill 10 values with ordinals 1 through 10, you can select the values, choose Fill Values, and enter 1 for both Value and Increment.

Choose Data Options in the data pop-up menu to set options that control the appearance and operation of the data window. This displays the Data Options dialog,

Figure 2.32: Data Options

The dialog contains the following options:

Show Variable Labels: This option controls whether variable labels are displayed. The default is off. If you turn on this option, variable labels are displayed.
Direction of "Enter": This option controls the interpretation of the Enter and Return keys in the data window. By default, the Enter key moves the active value one position down. If you choose Right, the Enter key moves one position to the right. If you choose Down and Left, the Enter key moves one position down, and left to the first position.
Direction of "Tab": This option controls the interpretation of the Tab and BackTab keys in the data window. By default, the Tab key moves the active value one position to the right. If you choose Down, the Tab key moves one position down. If you choose Right and Up, the Tab key moves one position to the right, and up to the first position.

The options Down and Left and Right and Up were added in Release 6.11. Not all hosts define a BackTab key, and not all hosts define Enter and Return as the same key. Consult your host documentation for information on key definitions.

You can save data window options by choosing File:Save:Options. This enables you to use your preferred option settings as defaults in future SAS/INSIGHT sessions.

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