topic Re: informat vs format in SAS Programming

informat vs format

clqa — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 22:21:36 GMT

why is the input(source, INFORMAT) while put(source, FORMAT)?

Re: informat vs format

ballardw — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 23:24:23 GMT

It is simple to check the two functions in the online help under functions.

INPUT reads (converts text to another value using the rules in the informat)

PUT writes (displays text based on the rules in the format)

Input may create either numeric or text values from text or text stored in a variable.

Put always generates text output.

Re: informat vs format

mkeintz — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 02:28:43 GMT

I think it a bit more accurate to say PUT writes sas values to non-sas representations. And input does the opposite. It's not always true that INPUT reads "text" and PUT writes "text". For example:

input x ib4.;

put x rb8. ;