topic Re: var name length greater than 32 characters in CSV file in SAS Programming

var name length greater than 32 characters in CSV file

yangx — Tue, 23 May 2023 15:56:55 GMT

Dear Support,

When I import a csv file, which contains a variable name with length of 34 characters, since SAS variable name can only have 32 characters, what I expected is the last 2 characters will be truncated, then the variable name in SAS dataset should be 32 characters long, however, after the import, the variable name contains 33 characters, which cause other problems, I cannot use the variable name in my program to assign this variable to another variable. Could you please advise how we should handle the problem? Thanks.

xiumei

Re: var name length greater than 32 characters in CSV file

Tom — Tue, 23 May 2023 16:10:08 GMT

We aren't support. Just other interested SAS users.

Can you make a trivial example that demonstrates the issue? Just a few lines and a few fields per line. Post the example text using the pop-up window that opens when you click on the Insert Code button (looks like < / > ).

There is no need to use PROC IMPORT to read a CSV file. You can write your own data step to read it and then you have full control over the variable names. Personally I rarely use variable names that are longer than 8 characters as it just makes using the data harder. Longer descriptions of the meaning of a variable can be placed in the variable LABEL instead.

I cannot recreate your issue.

filename csv temp;
options parmcards=csv;
parmcards;
id,this_name_is_longer_than_thirty_two_charaters,number
abc,xyz,123
;

proc import file=csv dbms=csv out=want replace;
run;

proc contents data=want noprint out=contents; run;

data _null_;
  set contents;
  namelen=length(name);
  put (varnum namelen name label) (=);
run;

652  data _null_;
653    set contents;
654    namelen=length(name);
655    put (varnum namelen name label) (=);
656  run;

VARNUM=1 namelen=2 NAME=id LABEL=
VARNUM=3 namelen=6 NAME=number LABEL=
VARNUM=2 namelen=32 NAME=this_name_is_longer_than_thirty_ LABEL=
NOTE: There were 3 observations read from the data set WORK.CONTENTS.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

Re: var name length greater than 32 characters in CSV file

Reeza — Tue, 23 May 2023 16:07:12 GMT

I suspect it's being read in with 32 characters for the name but the label is longer. Run a proc contents on the data set and check the variable name and label.

Also, set the following so that the typical SAS naming convention will apply.

options validvarname=v7;

Re: var name length greater than 32 characters in CSV file

yangx — Tue, 23 May 2023 19:45:46 GMT

Thanks for your reply, I have figured out where the problem is. Now proc import works as expected, the last two characters were truncated, so the variable name has 32 characters.

Xiumei