topic Re: cats in SAS Programming

cats

HeatherNewton — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 11:10:40 GMT

ead=cats('z',level_1,level_2,level_4,level_6);

what does this do?

Re: cats

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 11:16:09 GMT

Please consult the documentation: CATS Function and come back if details are unclear to you.

Re: cats

CalebSindi — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 11:24:54 GMT

It concatenates the string 'z' with the strings listed in the columns that are specified as arguments. It removes leading and trailing blanks before concatenation, I think.

Re: cats

MaggyShiks — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 11:41:06 GMT

In SAS, the code ead=cats('z', level_1, level_2, level_4, level_6); is using the CATS function to concatenate several variables and a string into a single character variable called "ead".

Here's what each component of the code does:

cats('z', level_1, level_2, level_4, level_6): This is the CATS function, which concatenates multiple arguments into a single character value. In this case, it concatenates the string 'z' with the values of the variables level_1, level_2, level_4, and level_6.

ead=: This assigns the concatenated value to the character variable "ead".

The resulting value of "ead" will be a string that combines the values of the variables level_1, level_2, level_4, and level_6, with 'z' appended at the beginning.

For example, if level_1 = 'A', level_2 = 'B', level_4 = 'C', and level_6 = 'D', the resulting value of "ead" would be 'zABCD'. The values of the variables are concatenated together, with 'z' added at the beginning.

Note that the CATS function removes leading and trailing spaces from the values it concatenates. If you want to preserve the spaces, you can use the CATX function instead.

Re: cats

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 12:03:45 GMT

The CATX function will also remove leading and trailing blanks. The CAT function keeps them.

Re: cats

ballardw — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 14:36:58 GMT

@HeatherNewton wrote:
ead=cats('z',level_1,level_2,level_4,level_6);
what does this do?

Since it is not part of a data step or other procedure that allows such code it does nothing and probably throws an error.

</Pedantic mode: off>

Have you tried placing the cursor in the SAS editor on the function, such as CATS, and pressing F1? Does anything happen?