topic Why does Data Type Changes in SAS Programming

Why does Data Type Changes

asimraja — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 18:56:52 GMT

Hi,

I have a dataset, aggr_tmp_1, which has aggr and aggr_raw as "Character". However, when, using the aggr_tmp_1, proc sql creates a new dataset, aggr_tmp_2, both aggr and aggr_raw are "Numeric".

Can anyone provide insight on why this is happening?

Thank you for your help!

Code:

data aggr_tmp_1;
   set aggr_tmp_1;
   by AGGR_INSTRUMENT_ID;
   length attribute $25.;
   attribute = "&var_name.";
   retain diff;
   if first.AGGR_INSTRUMENT_ID then
       diff = 0;
   if (not missing(aggr)) and (aggr ne '0') and (aggr ne aggr_raw) then
       diff = 1;
run;

proc sql noprint;
   create table aggr_tmp_2 as
   select aggr_instrument_id,
       aggr,
       count(aggr_raw) as aggr_raw,
       avg (diff) as diff
   from aggr_tmp_1
   group by aggr_instrument_id, aggr;
quit;

Re: Why does Data Type Changes

alex_a — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 19:30:18 GMT

You reinitialize aggr_raw with the value of count(aggr_raw) => Numeric result. Try this:

proc sql noprint;
   create table aggr_tmp_2 as
   select aggr_instrument_id,
        aggr, aggr_raw,
        count(aggr_raw) as count_aggr_raw,
       avg (diff) as diff
   from aggr_tmp_1
   group by aggr_instrument_id, aggr;
quit;

Regarding aggr, make sure it exists. By default, SAS converts uninitialized variables in numerical vars.

Edit: It does not make too much sense to keep aggr_raw in the query (depending on your needs). So you better exclude it.

Re: Why does Data Type Changes

asimraja — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 19:56:45 GMT

Thank you alex_a!