topic Re: SAS special character in column names in SAS Programming

SAS special character in column names

LearnByMistk — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:24:56 GMT

I have column name as age_10+, how would I rename that var in sas as it's already been imported via teradata connection. Any help is really appreciated .

Re: SAS special character in column names

LearnByMistk — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:36:02 GMT

data a;
rename age_10+=age_10_p;
set b;
run;

Re: SAS special character in column names

Tom — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:48:51 GMT

Did the "import" already run successfully? What is the name used for the variable in the resulting SAS dataset. Use PROC CONTENTS or other way of looking at the actual name. Don't just look at what you see in some viewer or PROC output as that might be displaying the label.

If you have the SAS option VALIDVARNAME set to ANY then you can use a Name Literal to reference that goofy name. So if your SAS dataset is named WORK.MYDATA then you could rename the variable this way.

proc datasets lib=WORK nolist;
modify MYDATA ;
  rename 'age_10+'n=age_10plus ;
run;
quit;

If you have VALIDVARNAME=V7 then the name was probably already fixed by replacing invalid bytes with underscores. So most likely it is named AGE_10_

Re: SAS special character in column names

LearnByMistk — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 18:06:49 GMT

options VALIDVARNAME=V7 ;
data a;
29 rename AGE_85_+_PCT=age_85_plus;
ERROR: Missing numeric suffix on a numbered variable list (AGE_85_-_PCT).
ERROR: Old and new variable name specifications for RENAME must be of the same type. Statement is ignored.
ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: -, :, =.

ERROR 200-322: The symbol is not recognized and will be ignored.

Re: SAS special character in column names

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 18:30:05 GMT

You need to use a name literal:

rename 'age_10+'n=age_10_p;

Re: SAS special character in column names

SASKiwi — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 18:53:09 GMT

VALIDVARNAME is only relevant when importing data into SAS. Once your non-standard variable names are in SAS then you have to reference them as name literals as already explained.

Re: SAS special character in column names

ChrisNZ — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 23:14:19 GMT

29 rename AGE_85_+_PCT=age_85_plus;
ERROR: Missing numeric suffix on a numbered variable list (AGE_85_-_PCT).

This code is not what was provided to you as a solution.

You have to enclose the variable name inside ' 'n as shown.