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Chapter 8
Function
Result
Description
unicode_char(NUM)
CHAR
Returns the character with Unicode value
NUM.
unicode_value(CHAR)
NUM
Returns the Unicode value o f CHAR
uppertolower(CHAR)
uppertolower (STRING)
CHAR or
String
Input can be ei
ther a string or character and is
used in this function to return a new item of
the same type with any uppercase characters
converted to
their lowercase equivalents .
Note: Remember to specify strings with
double quotes and characters with single
backquotes.
Simple field names should be
specified without quotes.
SoundEx Functions
SoundEx is a method used to find strings when the sound is known but the precise spelling is not.
Developed in 1918, it searches out words with similar sounds based on phonetic assumptions
about how certain letters are pronounced. It can be used to search names in a database, for
example, where spellings and pronunciations for similar names may vary. The ba sic SoundEx
algorithm is documented in a nu mber of sources and, despite known limitations (for example,
leading letter combinations such as ph and f will not match even though they sound th e same), is
supported in some form by most data bases.
Function
Result
Description
soundex(STRING)
Integer
Returns the four-character SoundEx code for
the specified STRING.
soundex_difference(STRING1, STRING2)
Integer
Returns an integer between 0 and 4 that
indicates the number of characters that are
the same in the Soun dEx encoding for the
two strings, where 0 indicates no similarity
and 4 indicates strong similarity or identical
strings.
Date and Time Functions
CLEM includes a family of functions for handling fields with datetime storage of string variables
representing dates and times. The formats of date and time used are specific to each stream and
are specified in the stream properties dialog box. The date and time fu nctions parse date and time
strings according to the currently selected format.
When you specify a year in a date that uses only two digits (that is, the century is not specified),
IBM® SPSS® Modeler uses the default century that is specified in the stream properties dialog
box.