Formal Criteria

The input file in T-LAB must be in the ASCII/ANSI format with the .txt extension.

In the case of a corpus made up of a single text, and when the user doesn't resort to variables, there are no further operations required: it is possible to continue with the importation phase.

If variables are used, the corpus preparation requires the following operations.

Each text or subset of it (the "parts" defined by variables and/or IDnumber) must be preceded by a coding line.

Each coding line has this format:

- It begins with a four asterisks string (****) followed by a blank space. T-LAB reads this string as: "here begins a user-defined text or a context unit".

- It goes on with the addition of strings made up by single asterisks and labels that define cases (IDnumber), variables and respective categories.

- It ends with the return key.

Here are some examples.

The following line introduces a text (or a corpus subset) codified with three variables - AGE, SEX and OCC (occupation) - and their categories (ADUL, FEM, PROF).

**** *AGE_ADUL *SEX_FEM *OCC_PROF

The following line introduces a text (or a corpus subset) codified with the same variables and the IDnumber label

**** *IDnumber_0001 *AGE_ADUL *SEX_FEM *OCC_PROF

The following line introduces a text (or a corpus subset) codified with two variables: YEAR, NEWSP.

**** *YEAR_98 *NEWSP_TIMES

In each coding line these T-LAB rules must be observed:

1. Each label (IDnumber, variables and variable categories) cannot be spaced out by blank spaces;
2. Each label - both for variables and variable categories - cannot be longer than 15 characters (min. 2);
3. Each variable label must be linked to the respective category using an underscore ("_");
4. Between two different variables, that is before the next asterisk, a blank space must be inserted;
5. Each variable and respective category must be assigned for each corpus subset;
6. We can use a maximum of 50 variables, each allowing a max of 150 categories which can be compared;
7. The maximum number of IDnumber is 30,000.