topic How to read rtf with SAS in SAS Programming

How to read rtf with SAS

DmytroYermak — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 08:44:32 GMT

Hi all,

I wanted to write a sas code which could have defined number of the cells(variables) in rtf report and the lengths of each cell. Could you please provide any recommendations/links.

Thank you.

Re: How to read rtf with SAS

RM6 — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 09:09:27 GMT

Hi,
When you have attributes details, variables with fixed length. you can read the input raw data with fixed column input.
example:
data x;
infile "filename.rtf";
input Name $ 1-20
DOB $ 21-31
Gender $ 32
Balance 33-40;
run;

Re: How to read rtf with SAS

DmytroYermak — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 10:01:17 GMT

When you have attributes details, variables with fixed length.

That is the question - I have just file and do not know the lengths.

Re: How to read rtf with SAS

Reeza — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 16:08:52 GMT

@DmytroYermak you need to post more details of what you’re trying to do.

Re: How to read rtf with SAS

Kurt_Bremser — Sat, 25 Nov 2017 19:41:11 GMT

RTF files are for word processor text. You need to scan the rtf text for tags that indicate tabular data, and then try to extract the cell values from that.

The wikipedia article on the rtf file format will give you hints how hard this will be.

RTF files are even less suited for SAS data input than Excel files.

Re: How to read rtf with SAS

PGStats — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 05:14:38 GMT

For one shot deals, I can sometimes open the rtf file in Word, copy the material I want to the clipboard and then paste it into a raw text processor. Then read it from there with SAS.

Re: How to read rtf with SAS

DmytroYermak — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 11:32:38 GMT

Thank you! Do you know "the tags that indicate tabular data"?

Re: How to read rtf with SAS

Kurt_Bremser — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 12:12:46 GMT

@DmytroYermak wrote:
Thank you! Do you know "the tags that indicate tabular data"?

No. Best you can do is to create a rtf file with data as you expect it, and then inspect the contents of the file with a pure text editor.

Re: How to read rtf with SAS

ballardw — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 16:25:33 GMT

@PGStats wrote:

For one shot deals, I can sometimes open the rtf file in Word, copy the material I want to the clipboard and then paste it into a raw text processor. Then read it from there with SAS.

Or (shudders) paste into Excel. And save as CSV for import.