topic Re: Recoding variables in SAS Programming

Recoding variables

NadiaK — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 22:15:25 GMT

Hello all,

I am trying to recode a variable containing numbers in decimal form. Whatever number is in that variable, I would like it to be coded as 1 and the missing values to be coded as 0. Does anyone have a quick easy solution?

Re: Recoding variables

Reeza — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 22:17:43 GMT

Can you post sample data to illustrate what you're trying to accomplish?

Include what you have and what you need.

Re: Recoding variables

Astounding — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 02:05:55 GMT

How about:

varname = (varname ne . );

In light of subsequent comments ... this approach can handle special missing values with just a slight change:

varname = (varname > .z) ;

Re: Recoding variables

Shmuel — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 22:46:00 GMT

Assuming the present variable is called VAR - do you mean:

if missing(var) then code=0; else code=1;

Re: Recoding variables

WarrenKuhfeld — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:01:14 GMT

x = n(x);

Re: Recoding variables

NadiaK — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:03:13 GMT

That's a good idea. Let me try it out!

Re: Recoding variables

NadiaK — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:04:01 GMT

Yes!

Re: Recoding variables

NadiaK — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:05:01 GMT

I am not sure I understand this. Bear with me, I'm super new at this stuff!
😌

Re: Recoding variables

WarrenKuhfeld — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:14:49 GMT

The n function returns the number of nonmissing arguments. There are 28 types of missing values, so direct comparisons to '.' might work for most data sets, but that does not provide a general solution. Solutions involving the N and NMISS functions work for any type of missing. Also, one does not need an IF/ELSE sequence when the goal is to create a single variable. If the result is Boolean, just assign the result 0 or 1 to a value. X = (X ne .); is a perfectly fine assignment statement that avoids IF/ELSE (although again, it does not provide a general solution). Also see IFN and IFC. This is harder than it needs to be for your problem, but it again avoids using two statements where one works. x = ifn(n(x), 1, 0);

Re: Recoding variables

NadiaK — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:22:01 GMT

Wow! Thanks so much!!

Re: Recoding variables

Tom — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 01:27:07 GMT

@NadiaK wrote:

Hello all,

I am trying to recode a variable containing numbers in decimal form. Whatever number is in that variable, I would like it to be coded as 1 and the missing values to be coded as 0. Does anyone have a quick easy solution?

The MISSING() function will return 1 (true) if the value is missing and 0 (false) if not. So you just want

x = not missing(x);