topic Is there a way to change the character limit for variable names in SAS? in SAS Programming

Is there a way to change the character limit for variable names in SAS?

awesome_opossum — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 16:17:14 GMT

I understand the native character limit for variable names in SAS is 32. I would like to change it to 30.

Is there any easy way to do this?

Re: Is there a way to change the character limit for variable names in SAS?

ChrisHemedinger — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 16:29:24 GMT

The VALIDVARNAME option can enforce certain pre-defined standards. As you know, the max length is 32 bytes. There isn't an option to set this to 30.

VALIDVARNAME=V7 (the default) is 32-byte max, alphanumeric with no spaces/special chars
VALIDVARNAME=ANY allows 32-byte max, but could have special chars/spaces using the literal notation to address them (ex 'my var name'n)
VALIDVARNAME=V6 enforces an 8-byte max. Hello 1985: your variables are calling.
VALIDVARNAME=UPCASE - same as V7 but enforces uppercase style.

Re: Is there a way to change the character limit for variable names in SAS?

Tom — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 16:30:57 GMT

@awesome_opossum wrote:

I understand the native character limit for variable names in SAS is 32. I would like to change it to 30.

Is there any easy way to do this?

No.

You can use the option VALIDVARNAME=V6 to force it to use 8 as the limit.

Why not just run your own tests to flag any variable with a longer name.

Perhaps something like:

proc sql;
create table longnames as
select libname,memname,name
  from dictionary.columns
  where length(name) > 30
;
quit;

Re: Is there a way to change the character limit for variable names in SAS?

awesome_opossum — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 16:42:45 GMT

Thanks, this is a good answer. My concern is a matter of interfacing with a database that has a 30 limit and preventing issues with exchange between systems. It seems manually checking may be the only option, then, and that is an elegant approach.

Re: Is there a way to change the character limit for variable names in SAS?

Tom — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 16:48:14 GMT

@awesome_opossum wrote:
Thanks, this is a good answer. My concern is a matter of interfacing with a database that has a 30 limit and preventing issues with exchange between systems. It seems manually checking may be the only option, then, and that is an elegant approach.

If you just get in the habit of using reasonable variable names you should never come close to using names that are anywhere near 30 bytes long. You can use the LABEL feature of SAS to attach longer descriptions of the variables.