Commands that Work Differently in Macros
    

One source of errors can be Minitab commands that work differently in macros than they do in interactive Minitab.

Commands that work differently in all %macros

·    READ, SET, and INSERT:

-    If your macro includes data after these commands, you must use the command END on the next line following the data.

-    If you use the FORMAT subcommand with these commands, the END command must be at the beginning of the next line following the data. If you indent the END command at all, Minitab will not recognize it and you will get an error message.

-    If you use READ, SET, or INSERT to input data from a file, you must specify the file name on the FILE subcommand. You cannot specify the file name on the main command as you can in interactive Minitab.

-    In local macros: If you see the error "Missing END for READ, SET, or INSERT," it may be because you have named a local variable with the same name as a Minitab command, and entered it after SET or INSERT.

·    Commands that change output settings--OW, IW, OH, BRIEF, CONSTANT, and NOCONSTANT. If you assign a setting with any of these commands, that setting stays in effect until you change it, restart Minitab, or use MRESET.

Commands that work differently in local macros

·    LET. You cannot use a Minitab function or column statistic as a variable name in a LET command. Thus

LET Mean = X1 + X2 + X3

is illegal because there is a Minitab function called MEAN. In general, it is better not to use Minitab command names as variable names in a macro.

·    ERASE. Erases local worksheet variables, but it does not erase the declaration of a variable. That is, you cannot declare the same variable twice in one macro.

·    EXECUTE. You cannot invoke EXECUTE from within a local macro. You can, however, invoke a local macro from within an Exec macro.

·    INFO. In a local macro, INFO displays information on the local worksheet. See Getting Information About the Local Worksheet.

·    SAVE and RETRIEVE. You cannot use either of these commands in a local macro. To save data in the local worksheet, use the command WRITE.