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CLEM Language Reference
Functions Reference

The following CLEM functions are available for working with data in IBM® SPSS® Modeler.

Youcan enter these functions as code in a varie ty ofdia log boxes, such as Derive and Set To

Flag nodes, or you can use the Expression Builder to create valid CLEM e xpressions without

memorizing function lists or field names.

Function Type Description
Information Used to gain insight into field values. For example, the function
is_string returns true for all records whose type is a string.
Conversion Used to construct new fields or convert storage type. For example,
thefu nction to_timestamp converts the selected field to a timestamp.
Comparison
Used to compare field values to each other or to a specified string.
Forex ample, <= is used to compare whether the values of two fields
are lesser or equal.
Logical Used to perform logical operations, such as if,then,else operations.
Numeric Used to perform numeric calculations, such as the natural log of
field values.
Trigonometric Usedto p erform trigonometric calculations, such as the arccosine
of a specified angle.
Probability
Return probabilities based on various distributions, such as
probability that a value from Student’s tdistribution will be less
than a specific value.
Bitwise Used to manipulate integers as bit patterns.
Random Used to randomly select items or generate numbers.
String Used to perform a wide variety of operations on strings, such as
stripchar, which allows you to remove a specified character.
SoundEx Usedto fin d strings when the precise spelling is not known; based on
phonetic assumptions about how certain letters are pronounced.
Date and time Usedto performa variety o f operations on date, time, and timestamp
fields.
Sequence Used to gain insight into the record sequence of a data set or perform
operations based on that sequence.
Global
Used to access global values created by a Set Globals node. For
example, @MEAN is used to refer to the mean average of all values
for a field across the entire data set.
Blanks and null
Used to access, flag, and frequently fill user-specified blanks or
system-missing values. For example, @BLANK(FIELD) is used to
raise a true flag for records where blanks are present.
Special fields Used to denote the specificfields under examination. For example,
@FIELD is used when deriving multiple fields.

Conventions in Function Descriptions

The following conventions are used throughout this guide when referring to items in a function.

Convention Description
BOOL A Boolean, or flag, such as true or false.
NUM,NUM1,NUM2 Any number.
REAL,REAL1,REAL2 Any real number, such as 1.234 or –77.01.