topic Re: Numeric to character conversion notes in sas log in SAS Programming

Numeric to character conversion notes in sas log

Jagadeesh2907 — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:32:59 GMT

Hi ,

I am trying to execute the code

data sample;
input @3 tlr_table_name :$30.
tlr_date :yymmdd10.
tlr_time :hhmmss8.
tlr_record_count :6.;

cnt_trl + 1;
call symputx("sox_bsac_cnt",tlr_record_count,g);
run;

when running the code i am getting the below note in the log and points to the call symput line.

NOTE: Numeric values have been converted to character values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).

i can clearly see because the variable "tlr_record_count" is numeric and we are assigning it to a macro, sas is doing the conversion and displaying the note. I changed the call symput like below, but i still get the same message.

call symputx("sox_bsac_cnt",put(tlr_record_count,6.),g);

Can you help me understand this why and also let me know how i can overcome this note.

Re: Numeric to character conversion notes in sas log

novinosrin — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:54:44 GMT

If you are using call symputx, If value is numeric, SAS converts the value to a character string using the BEST. format and does not issue a note to the SAS log. Leading and trailing blanks are removed, and the resulting character string is assigned to the macro variable. --Reference SAS documentation

Posting some sample data woud help to test.

Try this slight modification 'g' in quotes

call symputx("sox_bsac_cnt",tlr_record_count,'g');

Re: Numeric to character conversion notes in sas log

Kurt_Bremser — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:05:27 GMT

The problem is not with the data you want to put into the macro variable, but with the third argument to call symputx:

call symputx("sox_bsac_cnt",tlr_record_count,g);

g is obviously not a string literal, but a variable name; since this variable is not defined anywhere else, it is created as numeric with a missing value.

You want to specifiy a string literal:

call symputx("sox_bsac_cnt",tlr_record_count,'g');

Re: Numeric to character conversion notes in sas log

Jagadeesh2907 — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 06:38:50 GMT

Thank you Kurt. I am using call symputx since the third parameter G makes the variable to be in Global table. Is my understanding correct ?

Re: Numeric to character conversion notes in sas log

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 06:43:42 GMT

@Jagadeesh2907 wrote:
Thank you Kurt. I am using call symputx since the third parameter G makes the variable to be in Global table. Is my understanding correct ?

Yes. Just make 'g' a string to make it work.