topic Re: creating variables out of a string in SAS Programming

creating variables out of a string

sasuser1000 — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 18:21:12 GMT

Hi,

I have a variable that store sequences

11100101

11001001

10011000

I want to divide those sequences into variables:

so the sequence 11100101 will be

var1=111

var2=0

var3=0

var4=1

var5=0

var6=1

and the sequence 11001001 will be

var1=11

var2=0

var3=0

var4=1

var5=0

var6=0

var7=1

and the sequence 10011000

var1 =1

var2=0

var3=0

var4=11

var5=0

var6=0

var7=0

How should I go about it?

Re: creating variables out of a string

Astounding — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 18:42:18 GMT

A good starting point would be to consider a few related questions ...

Is your original variable character or numeric?

Is it always 8 characters long?

Is the first character always "1"?

Should the new variables (var1 - var8) be character or numeric?

Re: creating variables out of a string

ballardw — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:12:38 GMT

Also, why is the first var1=111, the second var1=11, the third var1=1?

Why is there no var7 for the first value?

Why is var4=1 for the first and second but 11 for the third?

Re: creating variables out of a string

sasuser1000 — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:17:38 GMT

The original is numeric but converted to char, it is not always 8 characters long and the first char is not always "1". the new var can be num or char...

the logic is to assemble one's that are near ech other together and zero can never be together. Kind of complicated...

Re: creating variables out of a string

Reeza — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:20:13 GMT

Not really, you just need to explain it, hard to guess what you want

BTW this seems a weird way to break things up, can you explain what you're going to use it for in the end?

Re: creating variables out of a string

data_null__ — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:24:24 GMT

I assumed that since you used the word string then the variable is character.

data test;
   input str :$8.; 
   array v[8] $8; 
   _i = 0; 
   do _s=1 by 0; 
      _r=findc(str||' ',char(str,_s),'K',_s);
      if _r eq 0 then leave;
      if char(str,_s) eq '1' then do _i = _i + 1; 
         v[_i]=substrn(str,_s,_r-_s);
         end; 
      else do _j = _s to _r-1; 
         _i + 1; 
         v[_i]=char(str,_j);
         end; 
      _s=_r;
      end; 
   drop _:;
   cards; 
11100101
11001001
10011000
111
1
0
00010100
11111111
00000000
;;;;
   run;

Re: creating variables out of a string

Astounding — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:25:36 GMT

So the original is already converted to character, but may not be 8 characters long ... what is its maximum length? After all, its maximum length determines the number of variables that we might have to create.

Re: creating variables out of a string

sasuser1000 — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:25:45 GMT

Hi Reeza, so what is your solution for this?

Re: creating variables out of a string

sasuser1000 — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:27:39 GMT

Thank you, this is great.

Re: creating variables out of a string

sasuser1000 — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:32:25 GMT

Max is 12

Re: creating variables out of a string

Reeza — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:46:41 GMT

data _null_ correct solution is for 8, so you can modify his. Mine is a bit more brute force.

data have;

input original $12.;

cards;

11100101

11001001

10011000

111

00010100

11111111

00000000

10110001111

00000000000000000

;

data want;

set have;

array var (12) $ var1-var12;

array str (12) $ str1-str12;

j=1;

*separate into characters;

do i=1 to length(original) by 1;

str(i)=substr(original, i, 1);

end;

do k=1 to length(original);

if k=1 then var(j)=str(k);

else if str(k)=str(k-1) and str(k)="1" then var(j)=catt(var(j), str(k));

else do;

j+1;

var(j)=str(k);

end;

drop str: i j k;

run;

Re: creating variables out of a string

sasuser1000 — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 19:51:43 GMT

Thank you Reeza

Re: creating variables out of a string

Ksharp — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 01:54:42 GMT

data test;
   input str :$8.;
cards;
11100101
11001001
10011000
111
1
0
00010100
11111111
00000000
;;;;
   run;
data temp(drop=str i);
 set test;
id=_n_;
do i=1 to length(str);
 x=char(str,i);output;
end;
run;
data xx(drop=x);
 set temp;
 by id x notsorted;
 length xx $ 10;
 retain xx;
 xx=cats(xx,x);
 if last.x then do;output;call missing(xx);end;
run;
data xxx(keep=id _xx);
 set xx;
 _xx=xx;
 if find(xx,'0') then do;
  do i=1 to length(xx);
   _xx=char(xx,i);output;
  end;
 end;
 else output;
run;
data xxx;
 set xxx;
 by id;
 if first.id then n=0;
 n+1;
run;
proc transpose data=xxx out=want(drop=_name_) prefix=var;
 by id;
 id n;
 var _xx;
run;

Ksharp