topic Re: How to define length for char variable where the variable name contains special character like + in SAS Programming

How to define length for char variable where the variable name contains special character like +

Jannet — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 09:18:30 GMT

How to define length in data step for char variable where the variable name contains special character '+' ?

I want to concatenate two datasets (A and B). When i try doing, the values in DTH + RB variables gets truncated due to different length of the variable in two datasets. Hence, I am trying to define the length for variable DTH + RB while concatenating but because of the special character in the variable DTH + RB the below codes are not working.

Can you please suggest how to handle this special characters which are in variable names?

eg: A dataset

ID DTH + RB

1 a

2 abc

3 jeremiahpaul

4 58

5 99

eg: B dataset

ID DTH + RB

1 ab

2 abcd

3 jerereremhihahdjh

4 58

5 99

When i try the below code, sas separates the DTH and RB as different column

data ex;

length DTH + RB $17.;

set A B;

run;

Re: How to define length for char variable where the variable name contains special character like +

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 09:26:03 GMT

Under the option VALIDVARNAME=ANY, you can use (almost) any characters in variable names, but you need to use so-called "name literals" to address those variables:

length 'DTH + RB'n $17.;

But it is preferred to rename such variables to valid SAS names like dth_plus_rb, as these are much easier to use in further coding:

data ex;
length 'DTH + RB' $17.;
set A B;
rename 'DTH + RB'=dth_plus_rb;
run;

Re: How to define length for char variable where the variable name contains special character like +

gamotte — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 09:30:48 GMT

Hello,

This is not a valid SAS variable name. SAS has an option to deal with non valid variables

names but the best solution would be to rename your column.

https://documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=pgmsascdc&cdcVersion=9.4_3.5&docsetId=lesysoptsref&docsetTarget=p124dqdk8zoqu3n1r4nsfqu5vx52.htm&locale=en

Not tested :

options validvarname=any;

data ex;
    length 'DTH + RB'n $17.;
    set A B;
run;

Re: How to define length for char variable where the variable name contains special character like +

Jannet — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 09:32:27 GMT

Thank you so much ...I really appreciate ur time

Re: How to define length for char variable where the variable name contains special character like +

Jannet — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 09:32:43 GMT

Thank you so much...Sorted it 🙂