topic Re: convert character to numeric in SAS Programming

convert character to numeric

shuchidxt_gmail_com — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 01:27:00 GMT

Hi,

I need to convert 25 length of character variable to numeric field in SAS.

Example :

I have field XYZ having data ='27201807000526_61135239'.

I want to create another NUMERIC variable ABC = 27201807000526_61135239'.

Is this possible? Since the length of the numeric is grater than 16.

Re: convert character to numeric

ChrisBrooks — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 01:38:22 GMT

An underscore isn't a numeric character so you won't get exactly what you seem to want. If you can explain why you need to convert this value to numeric might be able to offer an alternative strategy.

Re: convert character to numeric

ChrisNZ — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 01:54:20 GMT

SAS can store no more than 16 digits accurately, under certain conditions.

Integer numbers greater than 2**53 can get distorted.

For decimal numbers, the number of exact digits is 15 maximum.

These are for PC/Unix. Mainframes are more accurate (but store smaller exponent sizes).

Re: convert character to numeric

Astounding — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 02:47:21 GMT

You can't convert it to numeric, since it isn't a number. If I said I was going to give you 27201807000526_61135239 chicken feathers, how many chicken feathers is that?

Re: convert character to numeric

shuchidxt_gmail_com — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 06:33:26 GMT

Yes, I know that we cannot change it to numeric. I want to get assured that there is no way to convert it to numeric.

Re: convert character to numeric

shuchidxt_gmail_com — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 06:34:18 GMT

I don't know how the data is being used. We sent the data to downstream application for their usage.

Re: convert character to numeric

Tom — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 06:41:23 GMT

@shuchidxt_gmail_com wrote:

I don't know how the data is being used. We sent the data to downstream application for their usage.

HOW do you send it?

Re: convert character to numeric

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 10:10:41 GMT

27201807000526_61135239 is not a number, therefore your question does not make sense. If you need to convert a part of this string to a number, then it's different, but you would need to tell us so.

If the underline is in fact the decimal point (or similar), the number would have too many digits for SAS and you would lose precision.

You could convert this string reliably to two separate numbers, OTOH.