topic Re: convert the character to numeric in SAS Programming

convert the character to numeric

GeorgeSAS — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 15:20:11 GMT

Hello,

why I can't convert the character m to numeric s?

data a;

m='12345678';

run;

data b;

set a;

s=put(m, $8.);

run;

Thanks

Re: convert the character to numeric

ballardw — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 15:30:33 GMT

PUT always creates a character variable used the way you did

Try

data b;

set a;

s= input(m, 8.);

run;

Re: convert the character to numeric

GeorgeSAS — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 16:10:43 GMT

thank you, but s is still a char.

Re: convert the character to numeric

Reeza — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 16:29:53 GMT

It shouldn't be. Double check your code and output. Was your log clean? Is S already in your dataset, you can't change a variable type if it already exists in the dataset.

data a;
m='12345678';
run;
data b;
set a;
s=input(m, 8.);
run;

proc contents data=b;
run;

Alphabetic List of Variables and Attributes

#Variable Type Len

1m Char 8

2 s Num 8

Re: convert the character to numeric

GeorgeSAS — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 20:10:11 GMT

I found the problem, the import excel file including special characters which make SAS function can't recginize that variable.

the special characters are something like ctrl+ enter in excel.