topic Re: resolving a formula in a dataset in SAS Programming

resolving a formula in a dataset

mrom34 — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:44:44 GMT

Hi,

I have a table with 2 columns. One is simple formula and the other one a numeric variable. I am trying to resolve the formula in the dataset but it does not work and I am not sure to understand why. Below is the example:

DATA temp1;
INPUT formula $ var1 ;
DATALINES;
2*var1 1
23*var1 2
12*var1 5
;

data temp2;
set temp1;
format result 8.;
result=formula;
run;

Why is it generating an error? if ifdo something like this, it is perfectly fine.
data temp2;
set temp1;
format result 8.;
result=var1*5;
run;

Thnaks a lot

Re: resolving a formula in a dataset

RickM — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:04:33 GMT

Your variable Formula is only a character variable.

This means for the first observation in your second dataset is equivalent to

result="2*var1";

which is not the same as

result=2*var1;

Only macro variables resolve the way that you are thinking. You should take another look at what you are trying to accomplish and try to figure out a simpler solution.

Re: resolving a formula in a dataset

bhavani — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:01:39 GMT

Assuming that you will always multiply with Var1.

Strip the first value before the '*' in Formula and then use it to multiply with Var1.

DATA temp1;
INPUT formula $ var1 ;
DATALINES;
2*var1 1
23*var1 2
12*var1 5
;
run;

data temp2;
set temp1;
format result 8.;
*result=formula;
result=input(scan(formula,1,'*'),best.) * Var1;
run;

proc print data=temp2;
run;

Obs formula var1 result

1 2*var1 1 2
2 23*var1 2 46
3 12*var1 5 60

When you assign Formula to Result, you are merely copying over the value to Result.
I don't think you can resolve a formula in a datastep. Message was edited by: bhavani

Re: resolving a formula in a dataset

polingjw — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:17:17 GMT

See this posting from a couple of months ago. Chang showed a solution here that proves it is indeed possible to resolve a formula in a datastep.

http://support.sas.com/forums/thread.jspa?messageID=47101럽

Re: resolving a formula in a dataset

Ksharp — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 19:46:25 GMT

Hi.
If you have very large dataset, use the tranwrd function and resolve function with %sysevalf :

DATA temp1;
INPUT formula $ var1 ;
DATALINES;
2*var1 1
23*var1 2
12*var1 5
; 
data result;
 set temp1;
 temp=tranwrd(formula ,'var1',strip(var1));
 result=resolve('%sysevalf('||temp||')');
run;

If you have not very large dataset, CALL EXECUTE can generate the statements for each record to calculate the result:

DATA temp1;
INPUT formula $ var1 ;
DATALINES;
2*var1 1
23*var1 2
12*var1 5
; 

data _null_;
 set temp1 end=last;
 if _n_=1 then call execute('data _result;');
 call execute('var1='||var1||';');
 call execute('formula="'||formula||'";');
 call execute('result='||formula||';');
 call execute('output;');
 if last then call execute('run;');
run;

Ksharp