topic Re: if a value is defined two formats, which one will it take? in SAS Programming

if a value is defined two formats, which one will it take?

ZRick — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:39:09 GMT

Is following allowed? looks ok, but 4 is defined twice in format, the result is using homie, not mid.

Can someone help explain?

proc format;

value ne

low - 4 = 'homie'

4 - 8 = 'mid';

run;

data t;

input amt;

cards;

;

proc print data=t;

format amt ne.;

run;

Re: if a value is defined two formats, which one will it take?

kuridisanjeev — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:29:38 GMT

I thought Mid will be displayed in the place of 4.

Because 4-8='mid' is the recent value in proc format.

So this is going to apply to "4"..

Regards..

Sanjeev.k

Re: if a value is defined two formats, which one will it take?

RLC — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:35:13 GMT

The best response is to submit yours statements and consult the ouptut...

Another idea... submit these 2 statements

format cntlout=poub ;run;

print label ;var fmtname start end sexcl eexcl;run;

Ouptut

Ending

Format Starting value value for Start End

name for format format exclusion exclusion

NE LOW 4 N N

NE 4 8 Y N

Re: if a value is defined two formats, which one will it take?

Patrick — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:56:16 GMT

Without testing I would have expected that an error gets thrown because of overlapping ranges. But no: Proc Format digests these overlapping values.

On my SAS9.3 Win64 installation the label from the lower range is taken independently in what order the ranges are defined with Proc Format (so it's always 'homie').

Wouldn't have thought about writing the format to a data set like RLC did. It's quite nice as it actually gives you an idea of what Proc Format does to deal with such an ambiguity.