NAG FL Interface
g22ybf (lm_​describe_​data)

Note: please be advised that this routine is classed as ‘experimental’ and its interface may be developed further in the future. Please see Section 4 in How to Use the NAG Library for further information.

1 Purpose

g22ybf describes a data matrix.

2 Specification

Fortran Interface
Subroutine g22ybf ( hddesc, nobs, nvar, levels, lvnames, vnames, ifail)
Integer, Intent (In) :: nobs, nvar, levels(nvar), lvnames
Integer, Intent (Inout) :: ifail
Character (*), Intent (In) :: vnames(lvnames)
Type (c_ptr), Intent (Inout) :: hddesc
C Header Interface
#include <nag.h>
void  g22ybf_ (void **hddesc, const Integer *nobs, const Integer *nvar, const Integer levels[], const Integer *lvnames, const char vnames[], Integer *ifail, const Charlen length_vnames)
The routine may be called by the names g22ybf or nagf_blgm_lm_describe_data.

3 Description

Let D denote a data matrix with n observations on md independent variables, denoted V1, V2, , Vmd . The jth independent variable, Vj can be classified as either binary, categorical, ordinal or continuous, where:
Binary
Vj can take the value 1 or 0.
Categorical
Vj can take one of Lj distinct values or levels. Each level represents a discrete category but does not necessarily imply an ordering. The value used to represent each level is therefore arbitrary and, by convention and for convenience, is taken to be the integers from 1 to Lj.
Ordinal
As with a categorical variable Vj can take one of Lj distinct values or levels. However, unlike a categorical variable, the levels of an ordinal variable imply an ordering and hence the value used to represent each level is not arbitrary. For example, Vj=4 implies a value that is twice as large as Vj=2.
Continuous
Vj can take any real value.
g22ybf returns a G22 handle containing a description of a data matrix, D. The data matrix makes no distinction between binary, ordinal or continuous variables.
A name can also be assigned to each variable. If names are not supplied then the default vector of names, 'V1', 'V2', is used.

4 References

None.

5 Arguments

1: hddesc Type (c_ptr) Input/Output
On entry: must be set to c_null_ptr, alternatively an existing G22 handle may be supplied in which case this routine will destroy the supplied G22 handle as if g22zaf had been called.
On exit: holds a G22 handle to the internal data structure containing a description of the data matrix, D. You must not change the G22 handle other than through the routines in Chapter G22.
2: nobs Integer Input
On entry: n, the number of observations in the data matrix, D.
Constraint: nobs0.
3: nvar Integer Input
On entry: md, the number of variables in the data matrix, D.
Constraint: nvar0.
4: levelsnvar Integer array Input
On entry: levelsj contains the number of levels associated with the jth variable of the data matrix, for j=1,2,,nvar.
If the jth variable is binary, ordinal or continuous, levelsj should be set to 1; otherwise levelsj should be set to the number of levels associated with the jth variable and the corresponding column of the data matrix is assumed to take the value 1 to levelsj.
Constraint: levelsi1, for i=1,2,,nvar.
5: lvnames Integer Input
On entry: the number of variable names supplied in vnames.
Constraint: lvnames=0 or nvar.
6: vnameslvnames Character(*) array Input
On entry: if lvnames0, vnamesj must contain the name of the jth variable, for j=1,2,,nvar. If lvnames=0, vnames is not referenced.
The names supplied in vnames should be at most 50 characters long and be unique. If a name longer than 50 characters is supplied it will be truncated.
Variable names must not contain any of the characters +.*-:^()@.
7: ifail Integer Input/Output
On entry: ifail must be set to 0, -1 or 1. If you are unfamiliar with this argument you should refer to Section 4 in the Introduction to the NAG Library FL Interface for details.
For environments where it might be inappropriate to halt program execution when an error is detected, the value -1 or 1 is recommended. If the output of error messages is undesirable, then the value 1 is recommended. Otherwise, if you are not familiar with this argument, the recommended value is 0. When the value -1 or 1 is used it is essential to test the value of ifail on exit.
On exit: ifail=0 unless the routine detects an error or a warning has been flagged (see Section 6).

6 Error Indicators and Warnings

If on entry ifail=0 or -1, explanatory error messages are output on the current error message unit (as defined by x04aaf).
Errors or warnings detected by the routine:
ifail=11
On entry, hddesc is not c_null_ptr or a recognised G22 handle.
ifail=21
On entry, nobs=value.
Constraint: nobs0.
ifail=31
On entry, nvar=value.
Constraint: nvar0.
ifail=41
On entry, j=value and levelsj=value.
Constraint: levelsi1.
ifail=51
On entry, lvnames=value and nvar=value.
Constraint: lvnames=0 or nvar.
ifail=61
On entry, variable name i contains one more invalid characters, i=value.
ifail=62
On entry, variable names i and j are not unique, i=value and j=value.
ifail=63
On entry, variable names i and j are not unique (possibly due to truncation), i=value and j=value.
Maximum variable name length is 50.
ifail=64
At least one variable name was truncated to 50 characters. Each truncated name is unique and will be used in all output.
ifail=-99
An unexpected error has been triggered by this routine. Please contact NAG.
See Section 7 in the Introduction to the NAG Library FL Interface for further information.
ifail=-399
Your licence key may have expired or may not have been installed correctly.
See Section 8 in the Introduction to the NAG Library FL Interface for further information.
ifail=-999
Dynamic memory allocation failed.
See Section 9 in the Introduction to the NAG Library FL Interface for further information.

7 Accuracy

Not applicable.

8 Parallelism and Performance

g22ybf is not threaded in any implementation.

9 Further Comments

9.1 Internal Changes

Internal changes have been made to this routine as follows:
For details of all known issues which have been reported for the NAG Library please refer to the Known Issues.

10 Example

This example performs a linear regression using g02daf. The linear regression model is defined via a text string which is parsed using g22yaf. The corresponding design matrix associated with the model and the dataset described via a call to g22ybf is generated using g22ycf.
Verbose labels for the parameters of the model are constructed using information returned in vinfo by g22ydf.
See also the examples in g22yaf, g22ycf and g22ydf.

10.1 Program Text

Program Text (g22ybfe.f90)

10.2 Program Data

Program Data (g22ybfe.d)

10.3 Program Results

Program Results (g22ybfe.r)

11 Optional Parameters

As well as the optional parameters common to all G22 handles described in g22zmf and g22znf, a number of additional optional parameters can be specified for a G22 handle holding the description of a data matrix as returned by g22ybf in hddesc.
Each writeable optional parameter has an associated default value; to set any of them to a non-default value, use g22zmf. The value of an optional parameter can be queried using g22znf.
The remainder of this section can be skipped if you wish to use the default values for all optional parameters.
The following is a list of the optional parameters available. A full description of each optional parameter is provided in Section 11.1.

11.1 Description of the Optional Parameters

For each option, we give a summary line, a description of the optional parameter and details of constraints.
The summary line contains:
Keywords and character values are case and white space insensitive.
Number of ObservationsiRead Only
If queried, this optional parameter will return n, the number of observations in the data matrix.
Number of VariablesiRead Only
If queried, this optional parameter will return md, the number of variables in the data matrix.
Storage OrderaDefault =OBSVAR
This optional parameter states how the data matrix, D, will be stored in its input array.
If Storage Order=OBSVAR, Dij, the value for the jth variable of the ith observation of the data matrix is stored in datij.
If Storage Order=VAROBS, Dij, the value for the jth variable of the ith observation of the data matrix is stored in datji.
Where dat is the input parameter of the same name in g22ycf.
Constraint: Storage Order=OBSVAR or VAROBS.