topic Re: infile- problem with blanks in SAS Programming

infile- problem with blanks

Jedrzej — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 13:27:38 GMT

Hi,

I'm trying to infile rpt. file and i have problems with values that have blanks. Sas is giving me records from next column but I want him to show me the blank.

the file looks like this

5------10----

ab cd

null null

no i want to infile it

informat ab $CHAR2

data test;

infile 'path/rpt.' missover;

@5 ab: $CHAR2.

cd:;

run;

and the result is

ab cd

1 1

null null

4 4

Re: infile- problem with blanks

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 13:45:15 GMT

When posting text where positioning is crucial, use the {i} button. The standard posting window eliminates leading blanks and the like, so your examples can't be used for testing.

Re: infile- problem with blanks

ballardw — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 14:27:02 GMT

You might want to post a few records from your file by attaching a TXT file if the data isn't sensitive. Your data step is syntactically incorrect as posted as you do not include an INPUT statement to start reading unless that just got missed in pasting.

Approaches to reading this will vary depending on the actual text file structure. It may be that you want to use column input to read at specific columns for your variables for instance.

Re: infile- problem with blanks

Jedrzej — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 14:39:36 GMT

i cant add my file,sorry. this is just an example, you can write your own. the problem is that when i have blanks in record one, sas writes values from the next record and i dont know why

ive tried missover, pointers, and it is the same. Maybe because im infiling from rpt file not txt but im not sure

Re: infile- problem with blanks

Tom — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 15:02:41 GMT

If you raw data file is arranged in fixed column locations then tell SAS that is what you want. So let's assume this is what your data file looks like:

----5----10----
    ab   cd
         1
    null null
    null null
         4

Do not use the MISSOVER option instead use the TRUNCOVER option because it handles short lines better.

data want ;
  infile xx truncover ;
  input var1 $5-9 var2 $10-15 ;
run;

Re: infile- problem with blanks

Jedrzej — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 07:21:18 GMT

ok I know what is the problem

sas treats blank space as a delimiter so it goes to the next record and reads it.

I can use dsd option but then i have to use pointer for every column. Is there any other solution ? cause i have like 300columns.

Re: infile- problem with blanks

andreas_lds — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 08:07:48 GMT

Jedrzej wrote:

I can use dsd option but then i have to use pointer for every column. Is there any other solution ? cause i have like 300columns.

When reading a file in fixed width format you have to tell sas where each variable begins and how many chars belong to it.