topic Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment in SAS Programming

how to character variable keep right side alignment

thanikondharish — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 12:22:16 GMT

data have ;

input number ;

cards ;

22.34

3.4

323.322

;

I have above data set Now how to keep right side alignment with data type is character .

have... want

22.34 22.34

3.4 3.4

33 33

323.322 323.322

How to create want variable?

Note:Want is new character variable It should be in right side.

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:11:17 GMT

Use the RIGHT() function to right-align character expressions:

data have ;
input number ;
cards ;
22.34
3.4
33
323.322
;

data want;
set have;
length char $8;
char = right(put(number,best8.));
run;

proc print data=want noobs;
run;

Result (LISTING output):

  number     char

  22.340      22.34
   3.400        3.4
  33.000         33
 323.322    323.322

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

thanikondharish — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:22:00 GMT

Thanq for your reply.
However it is not working and then alignment not coming properly in dataset

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

ed_sas_member — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:24:11 GMT

Hi @thanikondharish

Do you want to right-align the text in the dataset or in a report using these data?

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

thanikondharish — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:29:00 GMT

In dataset only....

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:29:08 GMT

It IS right-aligned. Just take a short look at the result I posted. Note that most output destinations apart from LISTING will automatically left-align all character values, and discard any leading blanks. But that does NOT change the value stored in the variables. If you want further proof, run this:

data want;
set have;
length char $8;
char = right(put(number,best8.));
char_hex = put(char,$hex16.);
run;

and you will see the blanks (hex 20) in the variable.

Please state exactly what you are aiming for.

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:33:13 GMT

@thanikondharish wrote:
In dataset only....

Where it IS right-aligned, see my previous post.

What you see in the Table Viewer does not reflect the alignment correctly because it uses a proportional font (where the blanks are narrower than the characters).

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

ed_sas_member — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:37:36 GMT

Hi @thanikondharish

I agree with @Kurt_Bremser

Don't rely on the viewer to assess the alignment (the font has not the same size for all characters : a dot is "smaller" than a digit, ..)

As an alternative to the right function, you can also use the '-r' modifier in the put statement:

	char=put(number, best8. -r);

Best,

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

thanikondharish — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:43:00 GMT

Thanq for your reply.
However coming tralaing spaces.
[image: image.png]

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:45:11 GMT

In the code example I gave you, you can see in the hex display that there are NO trailing spaces stored AT ALL.

If you run different code, show us.

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

thanikondharish — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 14:09:00 GMT

Note tralaing.
There is no correct alignment as my point of view

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 14:19:39 GMT

THEN WHAT IS YOUR "POINT OF VIEW"?

I have sufficiently proven that the contents are right-aligned, in the data and in LISTING output.

@thanikondharish wrote:
Note tralaing.
There is no correct alignment as my point of view

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

Tom — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 14:42:43 GMT

@thanikondharish wrote:
Thanq for your reply.
However coming tralaing spaces.
[image: image.png]

If you want to insert a picture use the Insert Photos icon on the forum editor.

Re: how to character variable keep right side alignment

ballardw — Thu, 06 Feb 2020 16:03:17 GMT

@thanikondharish wrote:
Note tralaing.
There is no correct alignment as my point of view

In my occasionally humble opinion the alignment of values in a data set is completely irrelevant.

Since alignment really only affects people reading the data for most cases then when the data is written out in a report is when any alignment becomes important. And the reporting procedures have a number of methods to adjust alignment.

Of if the data is to be written to a text file read by another program then use appropriate syntax to align things at the time the text file is created.