topic Re: Converting char to num in SAS Programming

Converting char to num

_sas — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 10:42:19 GMT

Hello Everyone,

I want 100.10 as a value of variable e. is it possible without using any format ?

data _null_;

b="100.1";
c=input(b,5.2);

d="100.10";
e=input(b,6.2);

put _all_;
run;

Re: Converting char to num

Astounding — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 11:24:43 GMT

No, it's not possible. Numbers do not contain a set of characters in SAS. Numbers store a numeric value, not the form in which it is expressed. You can always add a FORMAT statement later, when printing the numeric variable.

Just for the record, your INPUT functions are treading on dangerous ground. You would be safer using:

b="100.1";
c=input(b,5.);

d="100.10";
e=input(b,6.);

To see why, try this (and read the documentation):

b="12345";
c=input(b,5.2);

Re: Converting char to num

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 11:42:18 GMT

@_sas wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I want 100.10 as a value of variable e. is it possible without using any format ?

SAS data step being turing-complete, it is of course possible. See here:

data test;
have = '100.10';
want = 0;
fr_count = .;
do i = 1 to length(have);
  if substr(have,i,1) = '.'
  then fr_count = 0;
  else do;
    want = want * 10 + rank(substr(have,i,1)) - 48;
    if fr_count ne . then fr_count + 1;
  end;
end;
if fr_count ne . then want = want / 10 ** fr_count;  
run;

Note that I did this because sometimes I have enough time at hand to waste on stupid ideas 😉

Re: Converting char to num

Ksharp — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:30:13 GMT

data _null_;

b="100.1";
c=b+0;


put _all_;
run;