topic Easy Way to convert every var to Character in SAS Enterprise Guide

Easy Way to convert every var to Character

eugeniothierry — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 15:42:38 GMT

Hi,

I need to recreate an excel report, moving every formula to SAS.

The final form is not in a Dataset structure, variables names are on the left.

I will need to transpose everything.

Is there a way to convert easily the whole table to Character?

I mean without a macro function or a list of put().

Thank you in advance

Re: Easy Way to convert every var to Character

Reeza — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:00:14 GMT

Conveniently, TRANSPOSE often does this for you. So depending on how you do your transpose that may be one way.

Or can you use PROC REPORT to create the report with ODS EXCEL?

Re: Easy Way to convert every var to Character

data_null__ — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:57:42 GMT

@Reeza wrote:
Conveniently, TRANSPOSE often does this for you. So depending on how you do your transpose that may be one way.

When the VAR statement contains numeric variables and at least one character variable all number variables are converted to their FORMATTED values. You will see this message.

NOTE: Numeric variables in the input data set will be converted to character in the output data set.

proc transpose data=sashelp.class out=allchar1;
   var _all_;
   run;
proc transpose data=allchar1 out=allchar2(drop=_name_);
   var col:;
   run;
proc contents varnum;
proc print;
   run;

Re: Easy Way to convert every var to Character

Tom — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 18:09:46 GMT

One thing you cannot tell from looking at that ODS output is that the values are right aligned in the character fields. If you look at the POT (plain old text) output instead it is more visible.

Obs    Name       Sex    Age    Height    Weight

  1    Alfred      M     14        69     112.5
  2    Alice       F     13      56.5        84
  3    Barbara     F     13      65.3        98
  4    Carol       F     14      62.8     102.5
  5    Henry       M     14      63.5     102.5
  6    James       M     12      57.3        83
  7    Jane        F     12      59.8      84.5
  8    Janet       F     15      62.5     112.5
  9    Jeffrey     M     13      62.5        84
 10    John        M     12        59      99.5
 11    Joyce       F     11      51.3      50.5
 12    Judy        F     14      64.3        90
 13    Louise      F     12      56.3        77
 14    Mary        F     15      66.5       112
 15    Philip      M     16        72       150
 16    Robert      M     12      64.8       128
 17    Ronald      M     15        67       133
 18    Thomas      M     11      57.5        85
 19    William     M     15      66.5       112

Re: Easy Way to convert every var to Character

data_null__ — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 19:55:25 GMT

When right aligned in $200 it can be confusing. I could have used a LEFT();

Re: Easy Way to convert every var to Character

eugeniothierry — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 21:48:48 GMT

Thank you, when I transposed my data, numeric variables showed as "..." in SAS egp.
So I assumed something didn't work properly. I was wrong.
I will try proc report as I rarely use it.

Re: Easy Way to convert every var to Character

Ksharp — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 05:00:48 GMT

But It is not good for BIG table and not efficient .