topic Re: Input function Help in SAS Programming

Input function Help

Kalai2008 — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 17:57:02 GMT

How to convert the variable checkname from character to numeric?

Given data

Checkname
0-1_check
1-2_check

data want ;
set have;
checkname1=input(checkname,best12.);
run;

Getting missing value(Period)

Re: Input function Help

PeterClemmensen — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 17:59:03 GMT

A numeric variable in SAS can not contain characters.

Re: Input function Help

Astounding — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 18:27:54 GMT

Before any programming takes place, it is up to you to decide what you would like the result to be. For example, you might decide that when CHECKNAME is "0-1_check" that CHECKNAME1 should be 1. There is nothing that SAS does on its own to make those decisions.

With just a few possible values for CHECKNAME, it might be as simple as this:

data want;

set have;

if checkname='0-1_check' then checkname1=1;

else if checkname='1-2_check' then checkname1=2;

run;

If there are many possible values to translate, you might need to create a rule that describes the outcome, instead of a list of values. But it all starts with you making the decisions about what the result should look like.

Re: Input function Help

Kalai2008 — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 19:19:04 GMT

You are Right, (but it is already created by another user.)

Thank you , I will try renaming the variable.