topic Re: rename multiple variables with same prefix in New SAS User

rename multiple variables with same prefix

knighsson — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:17:36 GMT

Hello,

I have a dataset "nh.weekday1" that contains many variables starting with "dr1" such as "dr1drs" and "dr1_tak", I want to rename those variables starting with "wkdy", so they become "wkdydrs" and "wkdy_tak". My code and log are below. Could you please tell me what went wrong and how to fix it?

Thank you!

proc sql noprint;
   select cats(name,"=",tranwrd(name,"dr1","wkdy")) into :renames separated by " "
   from dictionary.columns
   where libname="NH" 
     and memname="weekday1"
     and name like "dr1";
quit;

proc datasets library=nh nolist;
    modify weekday1;
    rename &renames;
quit;

Re: rename multiple variables with same prefix

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:22:56 GMT

Keep in mind that memname, like libname, is uppercase in the DICTIONARY tables. For most values in name, this will also be true, so you should convert it with UPCASE and compare with "DR1".

Re: rename multiple variables with same prefix

PaigeMiller — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:24:38 GMT

Your SQL log says "NOTE: No rows selected". So your WHERE clause is not finding any hits in the table.

Most likely you don't have the proper capitalization. MEMNAME and NAME should be all capital letters.

Re: rename multiple variables with same prefix

FreelanceReinh — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:40:19 GMT

Hello @knighsson,

In addition to the wrong case of "weekday1" you missed the wildcard character (%) in the LIKE condition:

and name like "dr1%"

which could also be written as

and name eqt "dr1"

(analogous for upcase(name), if needed).

Re: rename multiple variables with same prefix

knighsson — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:44:40 GMT

Thank you for your help! however, it is still not working.

Re: rename multiple variables with same prefix

knighsson — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:46:11 GMT

Thank you so much!! This is it!

Thank you!

Re: rename multiple variables with same prefix

knighsson — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:46:22 GMT

Thank you!