To list the Minitab commands for any category below, type
HELP COMMANDS followed by the appropriate number. For example, to list available regression commands, type: HELP COMMANDS 7.

1 General Information           10 Nonparametrics

2 Files, Data, and Printing     11 Tables

3 Editing and Manipulating Data 12 Times Series

4 Arithmetic                    13 Statistical
                                   Process Control

5 Plotting Data                 14 Exploratory Data Analysis

6 Basic Statistics              15 Distributions and Random
                                   Data

7 Regression                    16 Matrices

8 Analysis of Variance          17 Miscellaneous Features

9 Multivariate Analysis         18 Macros

General Information

HELP..........displays information about Minitab

INFO..........displays information about columns, constants
and matrices in your worksheet

STOP..........exits a Minitab session

MTB > help command 2

Files, Data, and Printing

NAME............assigns names to columns, constants and
matrices

PRINT...........displays data from the worksheet on the screen

RETRIEVE........inputs a worksheet saved by Minitab

SAVE............puts worksheet data into a worksheet saved
by Minitab

READ............puts data, rowwise, into the worksheet

SET.............puts data, columnwise, into the worksheet

INSERT..........inserts rows of data into the worksheet

END.............signals the end of inputting data

WRITE...........puts worksheet data into a data (ASCII) file

OUTFILE.........puts output into an ASCII file

NOOUTFILE.......turns off OUTFILE

PAPER...........sends output to a printer

NOPAPER.........turns off PAPER

NEWPAGE.........starts next command on a new page

JOURNAL.........puts all input lines into a file

NOJOURNAL.......turns off JOURNAL

TYPE............displays contents of specified file

SYSTEM..........accesses operating system commands

RESTART.........restarts Minitab, clearing the worksheet

MTB > help command 3

Editing and Manipulating Data

LET.............computes an algebraic expression or
changes a column value

DELETE..........deletes rows from the worksheet

ERASE...........erases columns, constants and matrices

INSERT..........inserts rows into the worksheet

COPY............copies selected rows of the worksheet,
and creates subsets of your data

CODE............recodes numbers in the worksheet

STACK...........stacks blocks of columns on top
of each other

UNSTACK.........unstacks blocks of columns

CONVERT.........converts alpha data to numbers

CONCATENATE.....concatenates several alpha columns into one

ALPHA...........converts alpha data in Release 5 to

Release 9

SORT............sorts one or more columns of data

RANK............ranks a column of data

The LET command can be used to change a number in the
worksheet. For example, LET C5(28) = .43 changes row 28 of C5  to .43. See HELP LET.

MTB > help command 4

Arithmetic

Compute an algebraic expression or change a column value:

LET

Do simple arithmetic:

ADD

SUBTRACT

MULTIPLY

DIVIDE

Apply functions to a column:

ABSOLUTE SIN EXPONENTIATE

SQRT COS RAISE

LOGE TAN ROUND

LOGTEN ASIN SIGNS

ANTILOG ACOS PARSUMS

ATAN PARPRODUCTS

Compute normal scores, for probability plots:

NSCORES

Compute statistics (one-number answer) for a column:

COUNT MEAN MAXIMUM

N STDEV RANGE

NMISS MEDIAN SSQ

SUM MINIMUM

Compute statistics (one-number answer) for a row:

RCOUNT RMEAN RMAXIMUM

RN RSTDEV RRANGE

RNMISS RMEDIAN RSSQ

RSUM RMINIMUM

MTB > help command 5

Plotting Data

Standard Graphics commands:

HISTOGRAM.......displays a histogram

STEM-AND-LEAF...does a stem-and-leaf plot

DOTPLOT.........displays a dotplot

BOXPLOT.........does a boxplot

PLOT............plots y versus x

MPLOT...........plots several variables all on the same axes

LPLOT...........plots y versus x, using letters for group
membership

TPLOT...........does a pseudo three-dimensional plot

TSPLOT..........plots a time series

MTSPLOT.........plots several time series, all on the same axes

GRID............creates a grid of points for a contour plot

CONTOUR.........does a contour plot

WIDTH...........specifies the width of plots

HEIGHT..........specifies the height of plots
Statistical Process Control Charts:

XBARCHART MACHART NPCHART

RCHART EWMACHART CCHART

SCHART MRCHART UCHART

ICHART PCHART

For high resolution graphics add a G before the command name, for example, GHISTOGRAM, GPLOT or GXBARCHART.

GOPTIONS....select graphics device and set options

GDEFINE.....set specifications for graphics devices

To produce high resolution graphics, you must first select the  appropriate screen, printer, and/or plotter driver using the GOPTIONS command. See Help on GOPTION for more information.

MTB > help command 6

Basic Statistics

DESCRIBE......displays descriptive statistics

ZINTERVAL.....computes a confidence interval with sigma known

ZTEST.........does a one sample z-test

TINTERVAL.....computes a t-confidence interval for one sample

TTEST.........does a t-test for one sample

TWOSAMPLE.....does a two sample t-test and confidence interval  with each sample in one column

TWOT..........does a two sample t-test and confidence interval with data in one column, subscripts in another

CORRELATION...computes correlations and a correlation matrix

COVARIANCE....computes covariances and a covariance matrix

CENTER........centers and scales columns

MTB > help command 7

Regression

REGRESS.......does simple, polynomial and multiple regression

STEPWISE......does stepwise regression, forward selection, and  backwards elimination

BREGRESS......does best subsets regression using the maximum

R-squared criterion

RREGRESS......experimental commands that does robust, rank- based regression

NOCONSTANT....says do not fit a constant term in regression
equations

CONSTANT......says to fit a constant term in regression
equations

MTB > help command 8

Analysis of Variance

AOVONEWAY.....does one way analysis of variance, with each
group in separate columns

ONEWAYAOV.....does one way analysis of variance, with the
response in one column, subscripts in another

TWOWAYAOV.....does balanced two way analysis of variance

ANOVA.........does univariate and multivariate analysis of
variance with balanced designs

ANCOVA........analyzes orthogonal designs (including latin
squares and crossover designs) with crossed  and nested factors and additive covariates

GLM...........does univariate and multivariate analysis
of variance with balanced and unbalanced  designs, analysis of covariance, and regression

NESTED........experimental command that analyzes fully nested (hierarchical) designs

INDICATOR.....creates indicator or dummy variables

MTB > help command 9

Multivariate Analysis

DISCRIMINANT...does linear and quadratic discriminant analysis

PCA............does principal component analysis

FACTOR.........does factor analysis

MTB > help command 10

Nonparametrics

RUNS............does a runs test for randomness

STEST...........does a sign test

SINTERVAL.......computes a sign confidence interval

WTEST...........does a one-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test

WINTERVAL.......computes a one-sample Wilcoxon confidence
interval

MANN-WHITNEY....does a two-sample Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon rank sum  test and confidence interval

KRUSKAL-WALLIS..does a Kruskal-Wallis test

MOOD............does a Mood median test

FRIEDMAN........does a Friedman test for randomized blocks

WALSH...........computes Walsh averages of all pairs

WDIFF...........computes all pairwise differences

WSLOPE..........computes all pairwise slopes

MTB > help command 11

Tables

TABLE.........displays contingency tables and tables of
statistics for associated variables

TALLY.........displays one-way tables of counts and percents

CHISQUARE.....does a chisquare analysis of a contingency table

MTB > help command 12

Time Series

TSPLOT........plots a time series

MTSPLOT.......plots several time series

ACF...........computes an autocorrelation function

PACF..........computes a partial autocorrelation function

CCF...........computes a cross correlation function

DIFFERENCE....differences a series

LAG...........lags a series

ARIMA.........fits a Box-Jenkins ARIMA model

MTB > help command 13

Statistical Process Control, Standard Graphics

XBARCHART.....displays a chart of sample means

RCHART........displays a chart of sample ranges

SCHART........displays a chart of sample standard deviations

ICHART........displays a chart of individual observations

MACHART.......displays a chart of moving averages

EWMACHART.....displays a chart of exponentially weighted
moving averages

MRCHART.......displays a chart of moving ranges

PCHART........displays a chart for proportion of nonconformities

NPCHART.......displays a chart for number of nonconformities

CCHART........displays a chart of Poisson counts

UCHART........displays a chart of Poisson counts per unit
High resolution graphics version of these commands:

GXBARCHART GMACHART GPCHART

GRCHART GEWMACHART GNPCHART

GSCHART GMRCHART GCCHART

GICHART GUCHART

MTB > e help command 14

EDA - Exploratory Data Analysis

STEM-AND-LEAF...generates a stem-and-leaf display

BOXPLOT.........displays boxplots

GBOXPLOT........displays a high resolution graphics version of  BOXPLOT

LVALS...........generates a letter-value display

CPLOT...........displays a condensed scatterplot

RLINE...........fits a line to data using a procedure that is  resistant to outliers

RSMOOTH.........smooths data (usually a time series)

CTABLE..........displays a two-way table in a coded form

MPOLISH.........uses median polish to analyze a two-way layout

ROOTOGRAM.......displays a suspended rootogram

The EDA commands are based on routines in the book "The ABC's  of EDA" by P. Velleman and D. Hoaglin, Duxbury Press, 1981.

See this book for a full explanation of these commands and
guidance on how to use them.

MTB > help command 15

Distributions and Random Data

RANDOM........generates random data from a variety of
distributions

PDF...........calculates probabilities for discrete
distributions and the density function for continuous distributions

CDF...........calculates the cumulative distribution function  for a variety of distributions

INVCDF........calculates the inverse cumulative distribution function

SAMPLE........takes a random sample, with or without replacement, of specified rows

BASE..........specifies the starting point of the random number  generator
 
MTB > help command 16

Matrices

Minitab has 100 matrices, denoted by M1, M2, M3,...,M100,
or by a name assigned with the NAME command. Names must be
enclosed in single quotes (apostrophes), and can be no longer  than eight characters. In addition, the columns of the  worksheet can be used as column vectors.

READ..........inputs a matrix

PRINT.........prints matrices

ADD...........adds two matrices

SUBTRACT......subtracts two matrices

MULTIPLY......multiplies two matrices

TRANSPOSE.....transposes a matrix

INVERT........inverts a matrix

DEFINE........creates a matrix with constant entries

DIAGONAL......extract the diagonal from a matrix, or puts
a column onto the diagonal of a matrix

COPY..........creates a matrix from a block of columns, or
creates a block of columns from a matrix

EIGEN.........calculates eigenvalues and vectors

MTB > help command 17

Miscellaneous Features

OW............controls the output width of some commands

OH............controls the screen height

IW............limits the width of input lines

BRIEF.........controls amount of output

TSHARE........makes Minitab suitable for interactive use

BATCH.........makes Minitab suitable for batch use

ABORT.........is a subcommand that cancels the current command

MTB > help command 18

Macros

Global and local macros are new to Release 9. Execs are the
older form of Minitab macros; they are still fully supported.

Macro type: File extension: To invoke, type:

Global MAC %filename

Local MAC %filename [arguments];

[subcommands].

Exec MTB EXECUTE 'filename' [K]

Declaration Statements for Local Macros

MCONSTANT.....lists variables which are constants

MCOLUMN.......lists variables which are columns

MMATRIX.......lists variables which are matrices

MFREE.........lists variables whose type is determined when the  macro is invoked

DEFAULT.......gives a default value to constants

MTYPE.........stores the type of an MFREE variable in a constant  Control Statements

IF............executes different blocks of commands depending

ELSEIF on a logical condition

ELSE

ENDIF

DO............loops through a block of commands

ENDDO

WHILE.........repeats a block of commands as long as a logical

ENDWHILE expression is true

NEXT..........transfers control from within a DO or WHILE loop  back to the beginning of the block

BREAK.........transfers control from within a DO or WHILE
loop to the command immediately following the end  of the loop

GOTO..........branches to a line in your macro, identified by

MLABEL a corresponding MLABEL

EXIT..........stops a macro and transfers control back to
interactive Minitab

PAUSE.........transfers control from a macro to the keyboard

RESUME........returns control to a macro

Additional Macro Features

CALL..........calls a subroutine, which is another macro in the  same macro file

RETURN........returns to the calling macro

PLUG..........continues to execute or "plug away" regardless
of errors

NOPLUG........stops a macro if an error is encountered

ECHO..........displays commands as a macro executes

NOECHO........does not display commands as a macro executes

DEBUG.........displays debugging information

NODEBUG.......does not display debugging information

SYSTEM........provides access to operating system commands

TYPE..........displays the contents of a file

INFO..........displays a summary of the local worksheet

SWAP..........swaps macro files into the worksheet as needed

NOSWAP........stores all macro files in the worksheet at the
same time

STARTUP.MAC...is executed at the start of a Minitab session
Communicating with the User of a Macro

NOTE..........displays blank lines or messages on the screen

YESNO.........reads a "Yes" or "No" response from the terminal  Execs

EXECUTE.......executes a file of Minitab commands

STORE.........stores a file of Minitab commands

END...........ends storage of Minitab commands in a file

NOECHO........suppresses the echo printing of Minitab commands

ECHO..........restores the echo printing of Minitab commands

YESNO.........accepts a yes or no response from the user
of a macro

NOTE..........puts comments in a command line

STARTUP.MTB...is executed at the start of a Minitab session

See Help %MACRO for additional information.

MTB > help command 19

Professional Graphics

PLOT.........produces a scatterplot

CHART........produces bar charts, line charts, and symbol
charts

HISTOGRAM....produces histograms

BOXPLOT......generates boxplots, also called box-and-whisker
plots

TSPLOT.......generates time series plots
Displaying Data

SYMBOL.......displays points with symbols

CONNECT......connects points with lines

PROJECT......displays projection lines

AREA.........fills the area underneath points

BAR..........displays bars for each point

BOX..........displays boxes and whiskers

Annotating Graphs

TITLE........add titles

FOOTNOTE.....add footnotes

TEXT.........place text

LINE.........draw lines

POLYGON......draw polygons

MARKER.......draw symbols

Customizing the Frame

AXIS.........customize the axis appearance, length, and
labels

TICK.........customize tick appearance, location, and labels

GRID.........add grid lines

REFERENCE....add reference lines and labels

MINIMUM......redefine the minimum scale value

MAXIMUM......redefine the maximum scale value

FRAME........displays all axes, ticks, grids, and reference
lines

NOFRAME......suppresses all axes, ticks, grids, and
reference lines

MARGIN.......provide margin space between the frame and the
edge of the data area

Managing Graphs

LAYOUT.......place several graphs on one page

ENDLAYOUT....ends layout mode and displays graph

FIGURE.......change the size, appearance, and location of the  figure region

DATA.........change the size, appearance, and location of the  data region

OVERLAY......combine several graphs into one graph

NOOVERLAY....suppress overlay

SAME.........keep the same scale on several graphs

ASPECT.......specify the aspect ratio of a graph

Files, Input, and Output

GSAVE........save the graph in a file

HARDCOPY.....set the format for GPRINT and GEXPORT

GEXPORT......export a Minitab Graphics file

GVIEW........display a Minitab Graphics file

GPAUSE.......pause before clearing a graph

GPRINT.......print a Minitab Graphics file

For detailed information on these commands and subcommands,
type HELP followed by the command and/or subcommand, for
example:

HELP PLOT for help on the PLOT command

HELP PLOT JITTER for help on the JITTER subcommand for PLOT

HELP SYMBOL for the SYMBOL subcommand

Basic Graphs

PLOT, CHART, HISTOGRAM, BOXPLOT, and TSPLOT are the graph
commands which you can use alone or with subcommands. The graph  commands have their own subcommands. In addition, each of the  graph commands can use the subcommands described below.

Displaying Data

The following table shows which data display subcommands go with  each graph command:

PLOT CHART HISTOGRAM BOXPLOT TSPLOT

SYMBOL x x x x x

CONNECT x x x x x

PROJECT x x x x

AREA x x x x

BAR x x

BOX x

The data display subcommands determine the basic appearance of a  graph produced by PLOT, CHART, HISTOGRAM, BOXPLOT, and TSPLOT.

You can use more than one data display subcommand in a graph
(for example, using SYMBOL and CONNECT together). You can also  use the same data display subcommand several times in the  same graph (for example, using two SYMBOL commands to identify  different sets of points).

Annotating Graphs

The annotation subcommands can be used with the graph commands

PLOT, CHART, HISTOGRAM, TSPLOT, and BOXPLOT, and with LAYOUT.

LAYOUT uses page coordinates, while the graph commands use data  coordinates. Refer to the Graph Regions section in the

MINITAB Graphics Manual for a discussion of page and data
coordinates.

Customizing the Frame

The customization subcommands can be used with the graph
commands PLOT, CHART, HISTOGRAM, TSPLOT, and BOXPLOT.

Managing Graphs

LAYOUT and ENDLAYOUT are commands used to place several graphs  on a page and to annotate the page. LAYOUT has its own  subcommands. The graph management subcommands; FIGURE, DATA,  OVERLAY, NOOVERLAY, SAME, and ASPECT, can be used with the graph commands PLOT, CHART, HISTOGRAM, TSPLOT, and BOXPLOT.

Files, Input, and Output

When you generate a graph with Minitab Professional Graphics, you can save it to a file. After you save a graph, you can print it, view it on the screen at a later point, or export it to a different file format (such as PostScript or HPGL) for use with another software package, such as a word processing or  desktop publishing program (like WordPerfect or Framemaker) or  graphics program (like CANVAS or Freehand). To view a graph  after you save it, use the GVIEW command. You can print or  export a graph as follows:

1) save the graph, using the GSAVE subcommand with the
commands that generate the graph;

2) use the HARDCOPY command to set the device type or file
format for printing or exporting (you can do this before
step 1);

3) use GEXPORT to export the graph to a different format,
or GPRINT to print the graph.

You can adjust the Minitab device drivers to match the
configuration or format for your graphics device. Refer to
Appendix B, Modifying Device Driver and Printer Configurations, in the MINITAB Graphics Manual for additional details.

MTB > help command 20

Enhanced Statistical Process Control

Charts for Data in Subgroups

XBARCHART....plots a chart of subgroup means

RCHART.......plots a chart of subgroup ranges

SCHART.......plots a chart of subgroup standard deviations

%XRCHART.....plots a chart of subgroup means and a chart
of subgroup ranges

%XSCHART.....plots a chart of subgroup means and a chart
of subgroup standard deviations

Charts for Individual Observations

ICHART.......plots a chart of individual observations

MRCHART......plots a chart of moving ranges

%IMRCHART....plots a chart of individual observations and
a chart of moving ranges

Other Charts

EWMACHART....plots a chart of exponentially weighted
moving averages

MACHART......plots a chart of moving averages

%CUSUM.......plots a CUSUM chart

Charts for Defectives

PCHART.......plots a chart of the proportion of defectives

NPCHART......plots a chart of the number of defectives

Charts for Defects

CCHART.......plots a chart of the number of defects

UCHART.......plots a chart of the average number of defects

Process Capability Graphs

%CAPA........plots a histogram and table of statistics

%SIXPACK.....plots six charts for assessing process
capability

Probability Plots

%NORMPLOT....plots a normal probability plot

%WEIBPLOT....plots a Weibull probability plot

Other Graphs

%PARETO......plots a Pareto diagram

%FISHBONE....plots a Fishbone (Cause and Effect) diagram

Charts For Data in Subgroups

These commands require that you have 2 or more observations in  at least one subgroup. Subgroups do not need to be the same  size. Minitab calculates summary statistics for each subgroup.

These are plotted on the charts and used to estimate process
parameters.

Other Charts

EWMACHART, MACHART, and %CUSUM produce control charts for either  data in subgroups or individual observations.

MTB > help command 22

Analysis of Means

%ANOM.........plots an ANOM chart for measurement data

%BANOM........plots an ANOM chart for binomial data

%PANOM........plots an ANOM chart for poisson data

ANalysis Of Means (ANOM) is a graphical method for testing the  equality of several population means.

An ANOM chart can be described in two ways: by its appearanc and by its function. In appearance, it resembles a Shewhart
control chart. It has a center line, an upper decision line and  a lower decision line. A point is plotted on the chart for each  level or combination of levels of the factors. Similar to a  control chart, a conclusion is called for when a plotted point  falls outside the decision lines. Unlike a control chart, the  sequence order of the plotted points is irrelevant in an ANOM  chart.

In function, an ANOM plot can be described as a graphical analog  to the analysis of variance. Both methods test hypotheses about  the equality of population means.

There are some important differences between ANOM and ANOVA, however. For one, the hypotheses they test are not identical.

Also, unlike ANOVA, if a significant difference is found
between several means, ANOM shows directly where the differences  are.

MTB > help command 23

Design and Analysis of Experiments

FFDESIGN......generates two level designs, either full
or fractional factorials

PBDESIGN......generates Blackett-Burman designs

FFACTORIAL....fits full and fractional 2-level designs,
both orthogonal and nonorthogonal

CCDESIGN......generates central composite designs

BBDESIGN......generates Box-Behnken designs

RSREG.........fits a response surface model

%CONTOUR......draws a contour plot for a response surface model

MTB > help command 21

Graphical Options for Control Charts

Representing the Data

SYMBOL.......controls attributes of plot points

CONNECT......controls attributes of line connecting data

Annotating Charts

TITLE........places titles on charts

FOOTNOTE.....places footnotes on charts

TEXT.........places text strings on charts

MARKER.......places a symbol at specified coordinates

LINE.........draws additional lines on charts

POLYGON......constructs a polygon connecting points

SLIMITS......places control limits at specified locations

Customizing the Frame

AXIS.........controls attributes of the axes

TICK.........controls attributes of tick marks

GRID.........draws grid lines on charts

MINIMUM......sets minimum data value to plot

MAXIMUM......sets maximum data value to plot

REFERENCE....draws reference lines on charts

STAMP........stamps chart with date/time, etc.

Managing Graphs

LAYOUT.......mark the beginning and end of graphs that

ENDLAYOUT are combined on a single page

FIGURE.......change the size, appearance, and location of
the figure region

DATA.........change the size, appearance, and location of
the data region

ASPECT.......specify the aspect ratio of a graph

Files, Input, and Output

GSAVE........save the graph in a file

These graphics options are subcommands for the control chart

commands. The table below shows which subcommands can be used with each command. In order to use the subcommands you must be  using GPRO, the command for implementing Minitab Professional  Graphics. GSTD is the command to implement the standard  graphics. You won't need to worry about which you are using  most of the time, since GPRO is the default.

Many of these subcommands also have subcommands. For example, TITLE, which places a title on a chart, has subcommands that  allow you to control the font, color, size and placement of the  title. Refer to Help on the subcommand, for example, HELP  TITLE, or the Minitab Graphics Manual for additional  information.

Xbar R S %XR %XS I MR %IMR EW MA %CUS P NP C U

SYMBOL x x x x x x x x x x x

CONNECT x x x x x x x x x x x

TITLE x x x * * x x * x x * x x x x

FOOTNOTE x x x x x x x x x x x

TEXT x x x x x x x x x x x

MARKER x x x x x x x x x x x

LINE x x x x x x x x x x x

POLYGON x x x x x x x x x x x

SLIMITS x x x x x x x x x x x

AXIS x x x x x x x x x x x

TICK x x x x x x x x x x x

GRID x x x x x x x x x x x

REFERENCE x x x x x x x x x x x

MINIMUM x x x x x x x x x x x

MAXIMUM x x x x x x x x x x x

STAMP x x x * * x x * x x x x x x

FIGURE x x x x x x x x x x x

DATA x x x x x x x x x x x

ASPECT x x x x x x x x x x x

GSAVE x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

* optional subcommands are not available

Only the subcommands listed above can be used with the control  chart commands. Other Minitab graphics subcommands, such as  AREA, PROJECT, OVERLAY, and SAME, cannot be used.