topic Re: identifying non-numeric values in a numeric variable in SAS Programming

identifying non-numeric values in a numeric variable

AmirSari — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 01:55:20 GMT

Hi all,

I have a numeric variable that contains no-numeric and missing values in some cases. I am trying to identify and remove those cases.

data have;

input return;

cards;

-0.031250

0.000000

0.186340

run;

want:

return

-0.031250

0.000000

0.186340

I know that when the variable is set to character there are different ways to do that, however when i try to convert the variable to character using the put function, the new variable will contain only zero.

Thanks

Re: identifying non-numeric values in a numeric variable

novinosrin — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 01:58:55 GMT

Plz take a look at notdigit function

if notdigit(variable)=0;

Re: identifying non-numeric values in a numeric variable

ChrisNZ — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 02:24:52 GMT

You question shows a bit of confusion.

A numeric variable cannot contain letters.

To read dirty data, you need to read as a character, then test that it's a valid number then save as a numeric.

Something like:

 data HAVE;
  input RETURNC $;
  RETURN=input(RETURNC,?? dollar32.);
  if RETURN ne .;
cards;
-0.031250
 0.000000
C
.
0.186340
run;

RETURN
-0.03125
0.00000
0.18634

Re: identifying non-numeric values in a numeric variable

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 07:06:06 GMT

@AmirSari wrote:

Hi all,

I have a numeric variable that contains no-numeric and missing values in some cases.

This is plain impossible, so you are under some kind of misunderstanding of the numeric data type in SAS.

A numeric variable in SAS can only contain numbers or missing values, period. You can define special missing values (apart from .), but they're still missing values.

Non-numeric data can only be stored in character variables.

So go back and review your post

is it about a SAS dataset or an external file that you want to import into SAS
if a SAS dataset, run a proc contents and show the type of the variable in question. Also run a proc print of that variable and show values that are puzzling you
if an external file, post some example lines, and what you want have in the resulting SAS dataset

Re: identifying non-numeric values in a numeric variable

AmirSari — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 07:19:29 GMT

Thanks for your reply. I think I understand the numeric data type in SAS. I am working with an external dataset in which the missing values are displayed both as "." and "C" and that's why I got confused. Thanks for clarification, though.

Re: identifying non-numeric values in a numeric variable

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 07:33:36 GMT

When reading from an external file, @ChrisNZ has provided the cleanest solution. It reads data as you want it, and the code has no ERRORs or WARNINGs of any kind.