Sometimes I get some scans that appear to me to not process correctly

candidcactus

I think I may begin sharing them here, maybe I'll find that I am doing something wrong.

I have a fairly short scan that ends with this line:
' and [ AbsVal (0 week ago weekly close / 1 week ago weekly close ) > 1 ]
I get no results. If I change it to < -1 still I get no results - compared to the 80 I get without that line.
I used one (meaning the two are equal) to assure that I got results after other numbers weren't producing results. I will change it to a longer statement without an ABSVAL, but including an OR instead ... but shouldn't this function work? I've had similar issues with it before.

I commented it out and added this line at the end
' rank by [ AbsVal (0 week ago weekly close / 1 week ago weekly close ) ]
which was is ignored.
Note that each time I checked syntax I was told that it was correct and the scan was performed finding no stocks. Any thoughts?
As I write, I am considering that maybe it only works with numbers so they can be included in other calculations, not calculated numbers.
If so, it should be very easy to extend its functionality.

markd

I'm not sure why you need to use absval() in this case, since the division operation will never produce a negative number, because both closes will always be positive. So the result will always be positive number greater, less than or equal to 1, but not less than zero.

I've never tested absval( ) with an arithmetic operation in the parentheses. It might work, but I think its purpose is to convert indicators yielding negative values to positive numbers.

http://stockcharts.com/docs/doku.php?id=scans:advanced_scan_syntax

candidcactus

You're right! I believe the format for AbsVal requires parentheses. I say a space that may be the problem. I am so pressed for time with relative in hospital and incomplete move to a town 2 hrs away that I can't investigate now. Thanks for the reply!

markd

OK. Good luck with everything. Hope things work out!

lmkwin

rank by [AbsVal([0 week ago weekly close/1 week ago weekly close])] produces results. The math enclosed in brackets, then it takes the AbsVal of the math.

candidcactus

Thank you !!

lmkwin

you can also default the sort to be in Ascending order in the rank by by putting ascending AFTER the last bracket. I find it useful at times, depending on the criteria. The default Rank by is in descending order.