(In the X-Windows version there is no command-building Menu system; instead, you make point-and-click choices and, if desired, you click 'Paste' to ask SPSS to write the program for you in the Syntax Window.)

The functions necessary to use the Editor, including moving and deleting text, moving to the upper (Log) window and back, bringing external DOS files into the editor, writing the contents of the editor out to DOS files, and running the programs you write (or build) in the editor, are listed in the Manager Help screen, which is accessed (in most terminal types) by typing ESC-1 or its equivalent (such as F1, PF1, and so forth). ESC-1 brings up a mini-menu at the bottom of the screen in which the first of several choices -- Manager Help -- is highlighted. Hitting return chooses this highlighted item, and you get the Manager Help screen, which also inclnudes the keys that will help you to use the Menus. If you want to choose any of the other choices in the mini-menu, move the cursor to the right with CTRL-F or to the left with CTRL-B until your choice is highlighted, then hit RETurn. To see a screen listing the cursor motion key sequences and certain miscellaneous functions, once you are in Manager Help, type ESC-R. To leave any screen, hit ESC (or, in Manager Help, ESC ESC).

By default, you are placed in Edit mode, which allows you to type in your program yourself without the help of the menus. To enter Menu mode, type ESC-M. Menus will appear in the top half of the screen, with Menu items to the left and more detailed explanation of each item to the right. You can scroll down the Menu items using CTRL-N (to scroll back up, use CTRL-P), and as you do so each item is highlighted in turn. As each new item is highlighted on the left, the explanation field on the right changes accordingly.

Menu items in lower case are usually the name of another menu at the next level, and you will notice a right angle bracket to the right of most of these. Choosing such a lower-case item with the RETurn key moves you to that next- level menu. Menu items in upper case are actual SPSS commands, and choosing such an upper-case item with the RETurn key pastes the item in the editor below. If you are at any level of the Menu system and you wish to go back to the top level, ESC will take you back. Moving "down" and back "up" in the menu structure also can be accomplished by using the right cursor (CTRL-F) to go "down" a level, or the left cursor (CTRL-B) to go "up". Note the difference between using RETurn to go to a lower menu, and using the right cursor: if the Menu item highlighted is also a command (i.e., is in capital letters), RET would paste that item into the editor, while right cursor (CTRL-F) would not. To leave Menu mode, and return to Edit mode, type ESC-E.