4

I know this question is asked a lot, but I looked at those answers and don't see an obvious place where that would apply to my post. I'm trying to post the following to Stack Overflow, but it won't let me because of the "appears to have code" error. I've tried every way to mark code (4 spaces; 4 backticks; backtick escapes.

What is it thinking? Is it code that isn't formatted?

Here's what I'm trying to post:

Woolf & Preising (2005; Behavior Research Methods volume 37, 48–58) published a program to run a Schmid-Leiman transformation using SPSS's Matrix language. (It is probably not important for you to know what a Schmid-Leiman transformation is, but I'll explain in comments if you feel it is necessary).

In modifying the program for my own data, I'm getting an error I can't figure out:


>Error # 12302 in column 12.  Text: , 
>Syntax error. 
>Execution of this command stops. 
>Error in RIGHT HAND SIDE of COMPUTE command. 
>
> The MATRIX statement skipped.

Here is the beginning of the code. The error is showing as coming in Line 6:
````

* Encoding: UTF-8. 
* Schmid-Leiman Solution for 2 level higher-order Factor analysis. 
Matrix. 
* ENTER YOUR SPECIFICATIONS HERE. 
* Enter first-order pattern matrix. 
Compute F1={.461, .253, -.058, -.069; 
.241, .600, .143, .033; 
.582, .047, -.077, -.125; 
.327, .297, -.120, -.166; 
.176, .448, -.240, -.099; 
.680, .069, -.036, -.138; 
.415, .228, -.091, -.153;
            .
            .
            .
.390, .205, .002, -.098; 
.164, .369, -.170, -.047 
 }.

````
 As shown above, the text generating the error is shown as a comma (,), but the actual text (following the COMPUTE statement) in column 12 is an open bracket ({). So I have no idea what is going on. Can someone help?

For reference, the original code as proposed by Woolf & Preising (2005) is at 
    `<https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.3758%2FBF03206397/MediaObject/13428_2011_BF03206397_MOESM1_ESM.zip>`

The Woolf & Preising article is at 
`    <https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03206397>`

Thanks,
Steve

PS: The sample program given in the link above does run on my copy of SPSS. Here's the beginning of that code:
````
    * Schmid-Leiman Solution for 2 level higher-order Factor analysis. 
    Matrix. 
    * ENTER YOUR SPECIFICATIONS HERE. 
    * Enter first-order pattern matrix. 
    Compute F1={0.099, 0.5647,  -0.1521; 
                0.0124, 0.9419,  -0.1535; 
               -0.1501, 0.6177, 0.4218; 
                0.7441, -0.0882, 0.1425; 
                0.6241, 0.2793, -0.1137; 
                0.8693, -0.0331, 0.0289; 
               -0.0154, -0.2706, 0.6262; 
               -0.0914,  0.0995, 0.7216; 
                0.1502, 0.0835, 0.398}.
````
Improve this question
11
  • 1
    It is a bit of a gamble but try to (re)move this opening sentence Woolf & Preising (2005; Behavior Research Methods volume 37, 48–58) published a program to run a Schmid-Leiman transformation using SPSS's Matrix language. (It is probably not important for you to know what a Schmid-Leiman transformation is, but I'll explain in comments if you feel it is necessary). Either reword, remove the & dashes and ( ) and/or start with a plain English sentence without fancy characters. Oh, and links should be links, not a http:// inside < >. [Text for the link](https://example.com) should work better
    – rene Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 19:45
  • Thanks. The links were originally links, but I tried that to fix the problem. I'll switch them back.
    – Steve Scher
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 19:56
  • 1
    Well, that didn't seem to help.
    – Steve Scher
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 20:00
  • @SteveScher Can you post the markdowwn (code formatted) you're trying to post please?
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 20:03
  • How do I do that without it actually formatting?
    – Steve Scher
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 20:19
  • 1
    start on a new line with three backticks, paste the whole content on the following lines, end with three backticks on a new line at the end
    – rene Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 20:28
  • 1
    @rene Using a <code> ... <\code> section here might be the better choice.
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 20:44
  • OK. I edited the original post to show the markdown. Thanks for your help.
    – Steve Scher
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 22:12
  • 1
    Possibly, ENTER YOUR SPECIFICATIONS HERE could trigger something (from either caps or wording). Lots of numbers in succession there as well, which could trigger something else. Most likely a combination of the above.
    – Frédéric Hamidi
    Commented Dec 22, 2019 at 22:19
  • Doesn't this belong on Meta Stack Overflow?
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Commented Dec 23, 2019 at 23:33
  • @PeterMortensen AFAIK this filter is enabled on more sites so we can handle it here.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Dec 24, 2019 at 7:32

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Let's try this variant:

A program to run a Schmid-Leiman transformation using SPSS's Matrix language was published in 2005 by Woolf & Preising in Behavior Research Methods volume 37, pages 48 to 58). It is probably not important for you to know what a Schmid-Leiman transformation is, but I'll explain in comments if you feel it is necessary.

In modifying the program for my own data, I'm getting an error I can't figure out:


> Error # 12302 in column 12.  Text: , 
> Syntax error. 
> Execution of this command stops. 
> Error in RIGHT HAND SIDE of COMPUTE command. 
>
>  The MATRIX statement skipped.

Here is the beginning of the code. The error is showing as coming in Line 6:

```

* Encoding: UTF-8. 
* Schmid-Leiman Solution for 2 level higher-order Factor analysis. 
Matrix. 
* ENTER YOUR SPECIFICATIONS HERE. 
* Enter first-order pattern matrix. 
Compute F1={.461, .253, -.058, -.069; 
.241, .600, .143, .033; 
.582, .047, -.077, -.125; 
.327, .297, -.120, -.166; 
.176, .448, -.240, -.099; 
.680, .069, -.036, -.138; 
.415, .228, -.091, -.153;
            .
            .
            .
.390, .205, .002, -.098; 
.164, .369, -.170, -.047 
 }.

```

 As shown above, the text generating the error is shown as a comma (,), but the actual text (following the COMPUTE statement) in column 12 is an open bracket ({). So I have no idea what is going on. Can someone help?

For reference, the original code as proposed by Woolf & Preising (2005) is found [here](https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.3758%2FBF03206397/MediaObject/13428_2011_BF03206397_MOESM1_ESM.zip);

The Woolf & Preising article is found [here](https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03206397)


PS: The sample program given in the link above does run on my copy of SPSS. Here's the beginning of that code:

```
    * Schmid-Leiman Solution for 2 level higher-order Factor analysis. 
    Matrix. 
    * ENTER YOUR SPECIFICATIONS HERE. 
    * Enter first-order pattern matrix. 
    Compute F1={0.099, 0.5647,  -0.1521; 
                0.0124, 0.9419,  -0.1535; 
               -0.1501, 0.6177, 0.4218; 
                0.7441, -0.0882, 0.1425; 
                0.6241, 0.2793, -0.1137; 
                0.8693, -0.0331, 0.0289; 
               -0.0154, -0.2706, 0.6262; 
               -0.0914,  0.0995, 0.7216; 
                0.1502, 0.0835, 0.398}.
```

Final Output

A program to run a Schmid-Leiman transformation using SPSS's Matrix language was published in 2005 by Woolf & Preising in Behavior Research Methods volume 37, pages 48 to 58). It is probably not important for you to know what a Schmid-Leiman transformation is, but I'll explain in comments if you feel it is necessary.

In modifying the program for my own data, I'm getting an error I can't figure out:

Error # 12302 in column 12. Text: , Syntax error. Execution of this command stops. Error in RIGHT HAND SIDE of COMPUTE command.

The MATRIX statement skipped.

Here is the beginning of the code. The error is showing as coming in Line 6:


* Encoding: UTF-8. 
* Schmid-Leiman Solution for 2 level higher-order Factor analysis. 
Matrix. 
* ENTER YOUR SPECIFICATIONS HERE. 
* Enter first-order pattern matrix. 
Compute F1={.461, .253, -.058, -.069; 
.241, .600, .143, .033; 
.582, .047, -.077, -.125; 
.327, .297, -.120, -.166; 
.176, .448, -.240, -.099; 
.680, .069, -.036, -.138; 
.415, .228, -.091, -.153;
            .
            .
            .
.390, .205, .002, -.098; 
.164, .369, -.170, -.047 
 }.

As shown above, the text generating the error is shown as a comma (,), but the actual text (following the COMPUTE statement) in column 12 is an open bracket ({). So I have no idea what is going on. Can someone help?

For reference, the original code as proposed by Woolf & Preising (2005) is found here;

The Woolf & Preising article is found here

PS: The sample program given in the link above does run on my copy of SPSS. Here's the beginning of that code:

    * Schmid-Leiman Solution for 2 level higher-order Factor analysis. 
    Matrix. 
    * ENTER YOUR SPECIFICATIONS HERE. 
    * Enter first-order pattern matrix. 
    Compute F1={0.099, 0.5647,  -0.1521; 
                0.0124, 0.9419,  -0.1535; 
               -0.1501, 0.6177, 0.4218; 
                0.7441, -0.0882, 0.1425; 
                0.6241, 0.2793, -0.1137; 
                0.8693, -0.0331, 0.0289; 
               -0.0154, -0.2706, 0.6262; 
               -0.0914,  0.0995, 0.7216; 
                0.1502, 0.0835, 0.398}.

What has changed?

  • rewrote the first sentence
  • replaced the "links" with proper link markdown
  • added a space after the block-quote character >
  • code fenches start with 3 back-ticks, not 4
  • added empty lines before the start of the code blocks (so a ``` is preceded by an empty line)
  • removed the Thanks at the end, your usercard is to the left beneath the post, we know you're thankful.
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