topic Re: Change a character variable to multiple variables in SAS Programming

Change a character variable to multiple variables

Jason2020 — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 17:01:54 GMT

I have a data set that has a character variable ($poc) and would like to replace it with 2 new variables: t (F2.0) and site ($2). Is that possible without the need to output to a raw data file and re-enter it? Thanks.

Have:

POC17DB

POC17BB

POC17MB

POC17ML

POC17LL

POC17DL

POC16DB

POC16BB

POC16MB

POC16ML

POC16LL

Want:

17 DB

17 BB

17 MB

17 ML

17 LL

17 DL

16 DB

16 BB

16 MB

16 ML

16 LL

Re: Change a character variable to multiple variables

HB — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 17:16:12 GMT

Will your data always be

Three letters

Two numbers

Two letters

or can you have single digit or three digit numbers and single letter or three letter sites?

Re: Change a character variable to multiple variables

Jason2020 — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 17:30:58 GMT

Yes the data has a fixed format: 3 letters, 2 numbers, 2 letters

Re: Change a character variable to multiple variables

Peter_C — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 17:45:39 GMT

Have a look at the input() and substr() function documentation

Re: Change a character variable to multiple variables

Jason2020 — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 19:19:09 GMT

Thanks Peter. I solved it using the substr function:

a = substr(site, 4, 2);
b = substr(site, 6, 2);

Thanks again.