topic Re: Variable will not reassign its value in SAS Programming

Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 17:38:22 GMT

Hi, I am trying to create a table with variables col_1, col_2, col_3, to be reassigned to the values below, but for some reason they only show up as (%) with no numbers assigned to them. I have checked my bigcol variables and they do have values. Any advice is appreciated!

data num_prop ;
   retain rowlabel col_1 col_2 col_3 comnum ;
   merge num_prop bignumber;
   by comnum;
   rowlabel=' n(Proportion)';
   if col_1 ne '0(0.0)' then col_1=cat(strip(put(col_1, 8.0)),' (', strip(put((col_1/bigcol1)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
   else col_1=col_1;
   if col_2 ne '0(0.0)' then col_2=cat(strip(put(col_2, 8.0)),' (', strip(put((col_2/bigcol2)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
   else col_2=col_2;
   if col_3 ne '0(0.0)' then col_3=cat(strip(put(col_3, 8.0)),' (', strip(put((col_3/bigcol3)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
   else col_3=col_3;
vorder=1;
roworder=3;
run;

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 17:55:34 GMT

col_1 (and so on) seem to be character, and contain values which cannot automatically be converted to numbers. See the log for this (Maxim 2). Also see Maxim 3 (Know your data).

If that doesn't provide enough help, post the log (use the {i} button).

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:11:55 GMT

Thank you for your help, for some reason, now, nothing is showing up for all the col variables.

7930   data num_prop ;
7931   retain rowlabel col_1 col_2 col_3 comnum ;
7932   merge num_prop bignumber;
7933   numcol_1=input(col_1,best32.);
7934   numcol_2=input(col_2,best32.);
7935   numcol_3=input(col_3,best32.);
7936   drop col_1 col_2 col_3;
7937   rename numcol_1=col_1 numcol_2=col_2 numcol_3=col_3;
7938      by comnum;
7939      rowlabel=' n(Proportion)';
7940      if col_1 ne '0(0.0)' then col_1=cat(strip(put(col_1, 8.0)),' (', strip(put((col_1/bigcol1)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
7941      else col_1=col_1;
7942      if col_2 ne '0(0.0)' then col_2=cat(strip(put(col_2, 8.0)),' (', strip(put((col_2/bigcol2)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
7943      else col_2=col_2;
7944      if col_3 ne '0(0.0)' then col_3=cat(strip(put(col_3, 8.0)),' (', strip(put((col_3/bigcol3)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
7945      else col_3=col_3;
7946   vorder=1;
7947   roworder=3;
7948   run;

NOTE: Character values have been converted to numeric values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).
      7940:80   7942:80   7944:80
NOTE: Missing values were generated as a result of performing an operation on missing values.
      Each place is given by: (Number of times) at (Line):(Column).
      1 at 7940:85   1 at 7940:94   1 at 7942:85   1 at 7942:94   1 at 7944:85   1 at 7944:94
NOTE: There were 0 observations read from the data set WORK.NUM_PROP.
NOTE: There were 1 observations read from the data set WORK.BIGNUMBER.
NOTE: The data set WORK.NUM_PROP has 1 observations and 13 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.02 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

Astounding — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:15:08 GMT

Here's a simplified version of your program (very simplified!) so you can experiment with it and see where you are going wrong:

data test;

col_1 = '5(25.0)';

col_1a = put(col_1, 8.0);

run;

Also note, even the strongest SAS programmers have to read the log and figure out what the notes mean, to diagnose a problem. As a relative beginner, that's a habit you need to adopt.

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

ballardw — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:19:45 GMT

@Astounding wrote:

Here's a simplified version of your program (very simplified!) so you can experiment with it and see where you are going wrong:

data test;

col_1 = '5(25.0)';

col_1a = put(col_1, 8.0);

run;

Also note, even the strongest SAS programmers have to read the log and figure out what the notes mean, to diagnose a problem. As a relative beginner, that's a habit you need to adopt.

@Astounding perhaps you also intended to include a: col_num = input(col_1,8.); or similar?

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:21:34 GMT

I ran the test code and it works, it replaces col_1a with '5(25.0)' But I'm not sure what that tells me? That its not a problem with the variable, but the syntax in my code? Thanks for your help!

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

Astounding — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:23:49 GMT

@ballardw,

No, I meant to leave it as is. I know it doesn't work.

The original post seems to assume that the incoming variable COL_1 might contain "0(0.0)"

That's probably wrong, and in fact I'm not even sure that there is an incoming variable named COL_1. There might be. Even if there is, we don't really know if it's character or numeric. So I pushed the question back to the original poster, to (I hope) force some learning about what is in the data, and what the issues are in getting the PUT function to work at all.

I'm not sure that is the best approach ... I just think it's a decent approach.

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

Astounding — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:31:10 GMT

Did the log really say nothing about using a character string and the 8.0 format?

You may need to experiment with a few variations, such as:

data test2;

col_1 = 'abcdefghijklmnop';

col_1a = put(col_1, 8.0);

run;

data test3;

col_1 = 20;

col_1a = put(col_1, 8.0);

run;

Start off by getting a feel for what the PUT function expects as input, and what it produces as output.

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:34:37 GMT

I added this below code to ensure that col variables are equal to '0(0.0%)' and I checked, the col variables are character. I already tried changing them to numeric and still doesn't work after that is done.

data num_prop;
   length rowlabel $100 col_1 col_2 col_3 col_4 $32 ;
   rowlabel='    n (Proportion)';
   col_1='0 (0.0%)';
   col_2='0 (0.0%)';
   col_3='0 (0.0%)';
   col_4='';
   roworder=3;
   vorder=1;
run;

data num_prop;
   set num_prop ;
   comnum=1;
run;

proc sort;
by comnum;
run;

data num_prop ;
   retain rowlabel col_1 col_2 col_3 comnum ;
   merge num_prop bignumber;
   by comnum;
   rowlabel=' n(Proportion)';
   if col_1 = '0(0.0)' then col_1=cat(strip(put(col_1, 32.0)),' (', strip(put((col_1/bigcol1)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
   else col_1=col_1;
   if col_2 = '0(0.0)' then col_2=cat(strip(put(col_2, 8.0)),' (', strip(put((col_2/bigcol2)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
   else col_2=col_2;
   if col_3 = '0(0.0)' then col_3=cat(strip(put(col_3, 8.0)),' (', strip(put((col_3/bigcol3)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
   else col_3=col_3;
vorder=1;
roworder=3;
run;

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:40:57 GMT

No, the log didn't list anything

13404
13405 data numprop;
13406
13407 col_1 = '5(25.0)';
13408
13409 col_1a = put(col_1, 8.0);
13410
13411 run;

NOTE: The data set WORK.NUMPROP has 1 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 0.01 seconds
cpu time 0.01 seconds

I am going to play around with the put statement and see if I can figure it out. Thank you!

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

Astounding — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:47:18 GMT

That's unexpected (having no additional notes in the log), and a change in how SAS works.

Here's a way to zero in on the problem, based on the notes you received earlier.

This is an invalid calculation:

col_1 = '5(25.0)';

bigcol1 = 1000;

ratio = col_1 / bigcol1;

There's no way to convert COL_1 to a legitimate number that can be used in a formula.

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:50:04 GMT

292 data numprop;
293
294 col_1 = '5(25.0)';
295 bigcol1=1000;
296 ratio=col_1/bigcol1;
297 run;

NOTE: Character values have been converted to numeric values at the places given by:
      (Line):(Column).
      296:7
NOTE: Invalid numeric data, col_1='5(25.0)' , at line 296 column 7.
col_1=5(25.0) bigcol1=1000 ratio=. _ERROR_=1 _N_=1
NOTE: Missing values were generated as a result of performing an operation on missing values.
      Each place is given by: (Number of times) at (Line):(Column).
      1 at 296:12
NOTE: The data set WORK.NUMPROP has 1 observations and 3 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds

So it converted col_1 to numeric, but seems to not like the format it's in?

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

Astounding — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 18:55:09 GMT

The note is saying that COL_1 can't really be converted to numeric.

What number would it be? 5? 25? It just isn't a number.

If you would like to find the number before what is in parentheses, there are ways to do that.

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:12:33 GMT

When I check the dataset num_prop before I run that particular code. The col variable has this description:

Name:col_1

Label=^(N=21)

Format: $32

Type: Character.

with 3 Observations of 12, 9, 21

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:13:22 GMT

So I guess I am confused by the fact that I cannot convert this variable from character to numeric since all 3 of its observations are numbers.

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

Astounding — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:29:08 GMT

SAS has no trouble converting "12" to a number, and performing math with it.

col_1="12";

result = 2 * col_1;

What is in the denominators? (BIGCOL1 for example may not contain a valid numeric expression.)

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:38:18 GMT

You're right, I can do calculations with col_1, but I checked and, bigcol1,2,3 are all numeric. And I did the same test with bigcol1 and SAS also can perform math with it.

bigcol:

Length: 8

Format: Best12.

Type: Numeric

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

ballardw — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:39:37 GMT

@Astounding wrote:

Did the log really say nothing about using a character string and the 8.0 format?

You may need to experiment with a few variations, such as:

data test2;

col_1 = 'abcdefghijklmnop';

col_1a = put(col_1, 8.0);

run;

data test3;

col_1 = 20;

col_1a = put(col_1, 8.0);

run;

Start off by getting a feel for what the PUT function expects as input, and what it produces as output.

@Astounding

Apparently SAS has changed some behavior about use of the numeric F format such as 8. when using put. Other numeric formats such as BEST8. or comma8. generate the expected

NOTE 484-185: Format $BEST was not found or could not be loaded.

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

Tom — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:41:04 GMT

@Astounding wrote:

That's unexpected (having no additional notes in the log), and a change in how SAS works.

Here's a way to zero in on the problem, based on the notes you received earlier.

This is an invalid calculation:

col_1 = '5(25.0)';

bigcol1 = 1000;

ratio = col_1 / bigcol1;

There's no way to convert COL_1 to a legitimate number that can be used in a formula.

The PUT() function can use both character and numeric inputs. SAS is "kind" enough to convert the format specification to match the type of the input. So you effectively used the $8. format instead of the F8.0 format, which is why the output matched the input (or at least the first 8 characters of the input.).

Try it with the PUTN() function instead and you should see notes in the log.

Re: Variable will not reassign its value

kmardinian — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 19:48:45 GMT

Hi Tom, it unfortunately gave me the same thing as before and just printed (%) for col variables, it also still lists col variables as character after I run this.

Should I try and convert the col variables to numeric using PUTN in a separate data step before I run this code

3945 data num_prop ;
3946     retain rowlabel col_1 col_2 col_3 ;
3947     merge num_prop bignumber;
3948     by comnum;
3949     if col_1 ne '0(0.0)' then col_1=cat(strip(putn(col_1, 8.0)),' (', strip(putn((col_1/bigcol1)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
3950     else col_1=col_1;
3951     if col_2 ne '0(0.0)' then col_2=cat(strip(putn(col_2, 8.0)),' (', strip(putn((col_2/bigcol2)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
3952     else col_2=col_2;
3953     if col_3 ne '0(0.0)' then col_3=cat(strip(putn(col_3, 8.0)),' (', strip(putn((col_3/bigcol3)*100,8.1)) ,'%)');
3954     else col_3=col_3;
3955 vorder=1;
3956 roworder=2;
3957 run;

NOTE: Character values have been converted to numeric values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).
      3949:51   3949:82   3951:51   3951:82   3953:51   3953:82
NOTE: Numeric values have been converted to character values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).
      3949:58    3949:101   3951:58    3951:101   3953:58    3953:101
NOTE: Missing values were generated as a result of performing an operation on missing values.
      Each place is given by: (Number of times) at (Line):(Column).
      1 at 3949:87   1 at 3949:96   1 at 3951:87   1 at 3951:96   1 at 3953:87   1 at 3953:96
NOTE: There were 0 observations read from the data set WORK.NUM_PROP.
NOTE: There were 1 observations read from the data set WORK.BIGNUMBER.
NOTE: The data set WORK.NUM_PROP has 1 observations and 13 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.02 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds