topic How to identify if a format is a built-in format or a user-written format in SAS Programming

How to identify if a format is a built-in format or a user-written format

EyalGonen — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 14:56:46 GMT

Hi experts,

In a datastep (or any other way) how do I know if the format associated with some column in the dataset is a built-in format or a user-written format?

Thanks!

Re: How to identify if a format is a built-in format or a user-written format

PaigeMiller — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 15:16:39 GMT

You can query SASHELP.VFORMAT

If the variable LIBNAME is missing, then it is a built-in format. Otherwise, it is user created.

Re: How to identify if a format is a built-in format or a user-written format

SASJedi — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 15:22:39 GMT

You can't tell from the code which formats are user-defined, but you can programmatically list all formats available in your SAS session and identify which ones are user-defined like this (user-defined formats will be at the top of the list):

proc sql;
select fmtname
		,case 
			when memname is null then 'Built-in' 
			else 'User-defined' 
		end as Source
	from dictionary.formats
	order by 3 desc, 2, 1
	;
quit;

Re: How to identify if a format is a built-in format or a user-written format

EyalGonen — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 14:15:13 GMT

Thanks @SASJedi

Re: How to identify if a format is a built-in format or a user-written format

EyalGonen — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 14:16:44 GMT

Turns out there is a pre-built view called sashelp.vcformat which lists only user-written formats