*SPSS syntax example by www.spss-tutorials.com.
*Set up data with single string variable.
data list free/id (a1).
begin data
a b c d e f g
end data.
*Set string variable to scale (= metric).
variable levels id(scale).
*Add single numeric variable.
compute v1 = 0.
*Although id = scale, no descriptives are created because it's still a string variable.
descriptives id v1.