topic converiting character variable to numeric in New SAS User

converiting character variable to numeric

TANMOY05 — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 12:51:14 GMT

Is there any way to convert a variable containing zero observations to numeric?

Re: converiting character variable to numeric

PaigeMiller — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 12:54:17 GMT

A variable that has zero observations? Delete the variable, then create a new variable that is numeric of the same name.

data want;
     set have(drop=variable);
     length variable 8;
run;

Re: converiting character variable to numeric

TANMOY05 — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 13:25:00 GMT

Thank u!!

Re: converiting character variable to numeric

Kurt_Bremser — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 15:30:00 GMT

A little foray into SAS diction:
Libraries contain datasets (aka tables)
Datasets contain observations (aka records)
Observations contain variables (aka columns)
Variables contain values

A variable can therefore not contain observations.
A table (dataset) might contain zero (no) observations.
A variable might contain only missing values, which is probably what you mean.
In order to not mislead everybody else, using the correct names for things is mandatory.

Re: converiting character variable to numeric

TANMOY05 — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 19:50:02 GMT

Ok, noted!!