topic Re: Overlapping format values in SAS Programming

Overlapping format values

Batman — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 18:44:52 GMT

I tried searching for an answer on this topic but couldn't find a definitive answer. Shouldn't the following code generate an error message? The groupings overlap. How would SAS decide where to put a value of "2" based on these groupings?

26 proc format;

27 ! value test

28 1-2='1-2'

29 2-3='2-3'

30 ;

NOTE: Format TEST has been output.

31 run;

NOTE: PROCEDURE FORMAT used (Total process time):

real time 0.05 seconds

cpu time 0.03 seconds

Re: Overlapping format values

Reeza — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 18:49:49 GMT

No it won't generate an error and it won't assign multiples, it uses the first instance or assume that's it's included.

You can control the boundaries using < to explicitly include or exclude.

http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/proc/70377/HTML/default/viewer.htm#n03qskwoints2an1ispy57plwrn9.htm

proc format;
value test
1-<2 = '1-2'
2-3 = '2-3';
run;

data sample;
do i=1 to 4;
format i test.;
output;
end;
run;