SEQUENCE command

Determines if one or more fields in an Analytics table are in sequential order, and identifies out-of-sequence items.

Syntax

SEQUENCE <ON> {<FIELDS> field <D> <...n>|<FIELDS> ALL} <UNFORMATTED> <ERRORLIMIT n> <IF test> <WHILE test> <FIRST range|NEXT range> <TO {SCREEN|filename|PRINT}> <APPEND> <HEADER header_text> <FOOTER footer_text> <PRESORT> <LOCAL> <ISOLOCALE locale_code>

Parameters

Name	Description
ON FIELDS field D <...n> \| FIELDS ALL	The fields or expressions to check for sequential order. Specify ALL to check all fields in the Analytics table. Include D to sort the key field in descending order. The default sort order is ascending.
UNFORMATTED optional	Suppresses page headings and page breaks when the results are output to a file.
ERRORLIMIT n optional	The number of errors allowed before the command is terminated. The default value is 10.
IF test optional	A conditional expression that must be true in order to process each record. The command is executed on only those records that satisfy the condition. Note The IF parameter is evaluated against only the records remaining in a table after any scope parameters have been applied (WHILE, FIRST, NEXT).
WHILE test optional	A conditional expression that must be true in order to process each record. The command is executed until the condition evaluates as false, or the end of the table is reached. Note If you use WHILE in conjunction with FIRST or NEXT, record processing stops as soon as one limit is reached.
FIRST range \| NEXT range optional	The number of records to process: FIRST start processing from the first record until the specified number of records is reached NEXT start processing from the currently selected record until the specified number of records is reached Use range to specify the number of records to process. If you omit FIRST and NEXT, all records are processed by default.
TO SCREEN \| filename \| PRINT optional	The location to send the results of the command to: SCREEN displays the results in the Analytics display area filename saves the results to a file Specify filename as a quoted string with the appropriate file extension. For example: TO "Output.TXT" By default, the file is saved to the folder containing the Analytics project. Use either an absolute or relative file path to save the file to a different, existing folder: TO "C:\Output.TXT" TO "Results\Output.TXT" PRINT sends the results to the default printer
APPEND optional	Appends the command output to the end of an existing file instead of overwriting it. Note You must ensure that the structure of the command output and the existing file are identical: the same fields the same field order matching fields are the same length matching fields are the same data type Analytics appends output to an existing file regardless of its structure. If the structure of the output and the existing file do not match, jumbled, missing, or inaccurate data can result.
HEADER header_text optional	The text to insert at the top of each page of a report. header_text must be specified as a quoted string. The value overrides the Analytics HEADER system variable.
FOOTER footer_text optional	The text to insert at the bottom of each page of a report. footer_text must be specified as a quoted string. The value overrides the Analytics FOOTER system variable.
PRESORT optional	Sorts the table on the key field before executing the command. Note You cannot use PRESORT inside the GROUP command.
LOCAL optional	Saves the output file in the same location as the Analytics project. Note Applicable only when running the command against a server table with an output file that is an Analytics table.
ISOLOCALE locale_code optional	Note Applicable in the Unicode edition of Analytics only. The system locale in the format language_country. For example, to use Canadian French, enter fr_ca. Use the following codes: language ISO 639 standard language code country ISO 3166 standard country code If you do not specify a country code, the default country for the language is used. If you do not use ISOLOCALE, the default system locale is used.

Name

Description

ON FIELDS field D <...n> | FIELDS ALL

The fields or expressions to check for sequential order. Specify ALL to check all fields in the Analytics table.

Include D to sort the key field in descending order. The default sort order is ascending.

UNFORMATTED

optional

Suppresses page headings and page breaks when the results are output to a file.

ERRORLIMIT n

optional

The number of errors allowed before the command is terminated. The default value is 10.

IF test

optional

A conditional expression that must be true in order to process each record. The command is executed on only those records that satisfy the condition.

Note

The IF parameter is evaluated against only the records remaining in a table after any scope parameters have been applied (WHILE, FIRST, NEXT).

WHILE test

optional

A conditional expression that must be true in order to process each record. The command is executed until the condition evaluates as false, or the end of the table is reached.

Note

If you use WHILE in conjunction with FIRST or NEXT, record processing stops as soon as one limit is reached.

FIRST range | NEXT range

optional

The number of records to process:

FIRST start processing from the first record until the specified number of records is reached
NEXT start processing from the currently selected record until the specified number of records is reached

Use range to specify the number of records to process.

If you omit FIRST and NEXT, all records are processed by default.

TO SCREEN | filename | PRINT

optional

The location to send the results of the command to:

SCREEN displays the results in the Analytics display area
filename saves the results to a file
Specify filename as a quoted string with the appropriate file extension. For example: TO "Output.TXT"
By default, the file is saved to the folder containing the Analytics project.
Use either an absolute or relative file path to save the file to a different, existing folder:
- TO "C:\Output.TXT"
- TO "Results\Output.TXT"
PRINT sends the results to the default printer

APPEND

optional

Appends the command output to the end of an existing file instead of overwriting it.

Note

You must ensure that the structure of the command output and the existing file are identical:

the same fields
the same field order
matching fields are the same length
matching fields are the same data type

Analytics appends output to an existing file regardless of its structure. If the structure of the output and the existing file do not match, jumbled, missing, or inaccurate data can result.

HEADER header_text

optional

The text to insert at the top of each page of a report.

header_text must be specified as a quoted string. The value overrides the Analytics HEADER system variable.

FOOTER footer_text

optional

The text to insert at the bottom of each page of a report.

footer_text must be specified as a quoted string. The value overrides the Analytics FOOTER system variable.

PRESORT

optional

Sorts the table on the key field before executing the command.

Note

You cannot use PRESORT inside the GROUP command.

LOCAL

optional

Saves the output file in the same location as the Analytics project.

Note

Applicable only when running the command against a server table with an output file that is an Analytics table.

ISOLOCALE locale_code

optional

Note

Applicable in the Unicode edition of Analytics only.

The system locale in the format language_country. For example, to use Canadian French, enter fr_ca.

Use the following codes:

language ISO 639 standard language code
country ISO 3166 standard country code
If you do not specify a country code, the default country for the language is used.

If you do not use ISOLOCALE, the default system locale is used.

Analytics output variables

Name	Contains
WRITEn	The total number of sequence errors identified by the command.

Examples

Testing for out of sequence employee IDs and hire dates

You write any sequence errors identified in the EmployeeID and HireDate fields to a text file:

SEQUENCE ON EmployeeID HireDate ERRORLIMIT 10 TO "SequenceErrors.txt"

Remarks

Using SEQUENCE inside a GROUP

If you use SEQUENCE inside a GROUP command, the command executes to avoid interfering with the processing of the group, but no further data sequence errors are reported.

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