topic Collapsing levels of a categorical variable. in SAS Programming

Collapsing levels of a categorical variable.

microdire27 — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 12:48:14 GMT

Hi all,

I am trying to collapse the levels of my categorical variable Readto_1617 from 4 to 3 levels.

These are the current levels. I must say, my current level when it comes to SAS is a beginner

value read /*readto_1617*/
1 = "0 days"
2 = "1-3 days"
3 = "4-6 days"
4 = "Every day"

I want to combine 1= "0 days" and 2="1-3 days" such that my levels will now be

1 = "0 -3 days"
2 = "4-6 days"
3 = "Every day"

Below was how it was formatted

proc format;
value read /*readto_1617*/
1 = "0 days"
2 = "1-3 days"
3 = "4-6 days"
4 = "Every day";

run;

How do I change it to 3 levels? Thanks for the anticipated help

Re: Collapsing levels of a categorical variable.

PaigeMiller — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 13:02:58 GMT

You talk about collapsing levels, which in this case has nothing to do with formats. It has to do with your data, which you need to show us (a portion of). We need to see the days.

Re: Collapsing levels of a categorical variable.

microdire27 — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 13:25:54 GMT

It is a large data set of about 71000 observations and 771 variables. Besides I can't find where I can attach the data file to along with this message.

Re: Collapsing levels of a categorical variable.

PaigeMiller — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 13:28:06 GMT

I asked for a "portion of" your data, and the variable that contains days.

Anyway, perhaps you could just show us the (portion of) code that turns the days into 0, 1, 2, ... You can paste it right into your message by clicking on the "running man" icon and pasting it into the window that appears.

Re: Collapsing levels of a categorical variable.

LeonidBatkhan — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 13:30:48 GMT

Hi microdire27,

Here is how you can change it to 3 levels:

proc format;
   value read 
      1,2 = "0 -3 days"
      3 = "4-6 days"
      4 = "Every day";
run;

Hope this helps.

Re: Collapsing levels of a categorical variable.

microdire27 — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 15:03:49 GMT

It works. Thank you so much.