topic Convert string with comma to number in SAS Programming

Convert string with comma to number

vietlinh12hoa — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 15:48:44 GMT

I have a record with "7,5" is marked as string. When I try

input("7,5", 8.) or input("7,5", best.)

it returns . or null number. What is the problem here? How could we solve it?

Re: Convert string with comma to number

ErikLund_Jensen — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 16:23:41 GMT

hi @vietlinh12hoa

It can be read with a comma informat:

input("7,5",comma8.1);

But the comma format is very sensitive and makes factor 10 errors if there are no decimals or a different number of digits after the comma. So it is more secure to translate the comma to a point and use a standard numeric input format:

input(translate("7,5",'.',','), best.);

Re: Convert string with comma to number

Amir — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 16:44:39 GMT

Hi @vietlinh12hoa,

Do you want to separate the numbers or interpret the comma as a decimal?

The following might help:

data want;
	/* separate the numbers */
	x = input(scan("7,5",1), 8.);
	y = input(scan("7,5",2), best8.);
	
	/* comma in place of decimal point */
	z = input("7,5",numx.);
run;

Thanks & kind regards,

Amir.

Re: Convert string with comma to number

vietlinh12hoa — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 16:53:31 GMT

Many thanks. It works