Notes on Text Labels and Text Values

All values in Statistica can have two identities: text (example, Female) and numeric (example, 1). Text labels are entries (strings of characters) that label specific numeric values within a variable in the spreadsheet. Note that a text label always corresponda to a numeric value (as specified in the Text Labels Editor) and the data type can be Double, Integer, or Byte. Text values, on the other hand, refer to the data type Text. When you specify Text as the variable data type, you can enter text strings in the spreadsheet that do not have automatic numeric identities. See also, Range of Numeric Values that Can Be Entered or Stored in Cells.

How long can a text label be? The length of a text label (data type Double, Integer, or Byte) or text value (data type Text) is essentially unlimited.

Are text labels case sensitive? Text labels are not case sensitive. The text label "SMITH" is assigned the same numeric value as the text label "Smith."

How many unique text labels or text values can you have? You can have a practically unlimited number of unique text label/numeric value associations. Numeric values begin at 101 if you enter the data directly into a spreadsheet. This minimizes the likelihood of creating a numeric association that conflicts with a number elsewhere in the variable.

How do I create a text label/numeric association? To assign a text label to a specific numeric value, enter the text into the Text Labels Editor. If you do not care about the specific numeric values, but want to enter a text label and let Statistica assign the respective numeric value automatically, then simply enter your text string into a variable (in the spreadsheet) with the data type Double, Integer, or Byte. (Remember, the data type Text has no numeric associations.) Statistica creates the association automatically, beginning at 101.

How do I change the text label associated with a particular number? Find the text label you want to change in the Text Labels Editor. Edit the text label in the Text Label column and click OK to exit the Text Labels Editor. The change to the text label is now reflected in the spreadsheet.

How do I change the numeric association of a particular text label? Find the numeric value you want to change in the Text Labels Editor. Edit the numeric association in the Numeric column and click OK to exit the Text Labels Editor. When you click OK, a prompt is displayed to confirm that you want to recode the variable; click Yes, and your changes take effect.

Can I perform numerical analyses on text values? Yes, you can perform numerical analyses on text values, and in those circumstances, Statistica internally assigns unique numeric values to all text values being processed in order to efficiently (quickly) identify them when processing the data. Unlike the relation between the Double, Integer, or Byte data types and their permanent text labels, the relations between text values and numbers are created ad hoc, and are not stored by the program, hence, most likely different numbers are created the next time if a text variable is included in numerical analyses.

How can I switch between the two views (numeric or text) in the spreadsheet? You can switch between the two views of data (numeric or text) in the spreadsheet by clicking the Show/Hide Text Labels button on the Spreadsheet toolbar.

The way it worked in Statistica 5.x.

In Statistica 5.x, each value could have two identities: numeric (example, 1) and text (example, Male). If you entered a text value, it would always have a corresponding numeric identity. If you entered a numeric value, however, it did not have to have a corresponding text identity unless you so desired. Text values could only be up to 8 characters long and Statistica 5.x was case sensitive; Smith was not equivalent to smith. You could have only a limited number of unique text values per column. When Statistica 5.x created numeric associations, the numeric value numbering began at 100.

When entering data, you could enter the values 1 and 2 in variable Gender to refer to males and females, respectively. Later, you could type Male into any cell containing a 1, and at the point when you completed the entry, all 1s in this column automatically changed to Male. In other words, because 1 did not have a text equivalent, Statistica 5.x understood that you intended to assign the text value Male to all 1s in this variable. You could repeat the same steps for 2 and Female.

For transformations of text variables (variables of type text), see also, Transformation of Text Variables (Variables of Type Text). Note that Statistica Spreadsheets also support text labels for numeric values (these are labels attached to numeric values, which are used for display purposes only); when transforming the values with attached text labels, the respective transformations are performed on the numeric representations, and not on the text labels.