Alpha
Alpha (alphanumeric) series. An EViews alpha series contains observations on a variable containing string values.
Alpha Declaration
alpha declare alpha series.
frml create alpha series object with a formula for auto-updating.
genr create alpha or numeric series object.
To declare an alpha series, use the keyword alpha, followed by a name, and optionally, by an “=” sign and a valid series expression:
alpha y
alpha x = "initial strings"
If there is no assignment, the series will be initialized to contain empty (blank) values, “”.
Alpha Views
display display table, graph, or spool in object window.
dups duplicates display for observations in the series.
freq one-way contingency table.
label label information for the alpha.
sheet spreadsheet view of the alpha.
Alpha Procs
clearhist clear the contents of the history attribute.
copy creates a copy of the alpha series.
makemap create numeric classification series and valmap from alpha series.
map assign or remove value map setting.
olepush push updates to OLE linked objects in open applications.
setattr set the value of an object attribute.
setindent set the indentation for the alpha series spreadsheet.
setjust set the horizontal justification for all cells in the spreadsheet view of the alpha series.
sort change display order for the alpha series spreadsheet.
Alpha Data Members
@attr("arg") string containing the value of the arg attribute, where the argument is specified as a quoted string.
@description string containing the alpha object’s description (if available).
@detailedtype string describing the object type: “ALPHA”, if an ordinary alpha series, or “LINK”, if defined by link.
@displayname string containing alpha object’s display name. If the Alpha has no display name set, the name is returned.
@first string containing the date or observation number of the first non-blank observation of the alpha. In a panel workfile, the first date at which any cross-section has a non-blank observation is returned.
@firstall returns the same as @first, however in a panel workfile, the first date at which all cross-sections have a non-blank observation is returned.
@hilo string containing the alpha series object’s high-to-low frequency conversion method.
@last string containing the date or observation number of the last non-blank observation of the alpha. In a panel workfile, the last date at which any cross-section has a non-blank observation is returned.
@lastall returns the same as @last, however in a panel workfile, the last date at which all cross-sections have a non-blank observation is returned.
@lohi string containing the alpha series object’s low-to-high frequency conversion method.
@name string containing the alpha object’s name.
@remarks string containing the alpha object’s remarks (if available).
@type string describing the object type: “ALPHA”.
@updatetime string representation of the time and date at which the alpha was last updated.
(i) i-th element of the alpha series from the beginning of the workfile (when used on the left-hand side of an assignment, or when the element appears in a table or string variable assignment).
Alpha Element Functions
@elem(ser, "j") function to access the j-th observation of the alpha series, where j identifies the date or observation.
Alpha Examples
alpha val = "initial string"
initializes an alpha series VAL using a string literal.
If FIRST is an alpha series containing first names, and LAST is an alpha containing last names, then:
alpha name = first + " " + last
creates an alpha series containing the full names.