topic How to display the bars in alphabetical order? in Graphics Programming

How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

bhr-q — Tue, 13 May 2025 01:50:46 GMT

Hello All,

How to display the countries alphabetically on the x-axis?

I also read the below link: Tip: Avoid alphabetical order for a categorical axis in a graph - The DO Loop

if I use CATEGORYORDER=data in my code, I will get the error.

The below code works for me, just wanted to sort the bar in alphabetical order using "proc sgplot" not "proc chart".

proc freq data=tmp;
tables country / out=freq;
run;
proc sgplot data=freq;
   vbar country / response=Count  datalabelattrs=(size=6)  ;
   xaxis label=" " fitpolicy=rotate labelattrs=(size=6) valueattrs=(size=6);
   yaxis label="Number of Respondents" labelattrs=(size=6) valueattrs=(size=6); 
run;

Thank you!

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

whymath — Tue, 13 May 2025 04:08:01 GMT

Actually, alphabetical order is the default setting.

proc freq data=sashelp.cars;
tables make / out=freq;
run;
proc sgplot data=freq;
   vbar make / response=Count  datalabelattrs=(size=6)  ;
   xaxis label=" " fitpolicy=rotate labelattrs=(size=6) valueattrs=(size=6);
   yaxis label="Number of Respondents" labelattrs=(size=6) valueattrs=(size=6); 
run;

Wherase, Rick Wicklin's blog told to use frequency order and horizontal bar.

proc freq data=sashelp.cars;
tables make / out=freq;
run;
proc sgplot data=freq;
   hbar make / response=Count datalabelattrs=(size=6) categoryorder=respdesc ;
   xaxis label=" " fitpolicy=rotate labelattrs=(size=6) valueattrs=(size=6);
   yaxis label="Number of Respondents" labelattrs=(size=6) valueattrs=(size=6); 
run;

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

bhr-q — Tue, 13 May 2025 10:52:32 GMT

Thanks for your answer, as you see below, my issue is I can not get the bar in alphabetical order.

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

PaigeMiller — Tue, 13 May 2025 11:56:33 GMT

Show us the code you used. Is your data that you send to PROC SGPLOT sorted alphabetically? Please paste the graph with incorrect results into your message. Do not include it as a file attachment.

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

bhr-q — Tue, 13 May 2025 14:13:56 GMT

Thank you for your answer. My code has been mentioned in my initial comment.

The x-axis is too cluttered because there are many countries, which is why I attached the PDF in my previous comment for better clarity.

Also, even after sorting the data by country, they do not appear in alphabetical order.

proc freq data=tmp;
tables country / out=freq;run;

proc sort data=freq; by country; run;

proc sgplot data=freq;
   vbar country / response=Count  datalabelattrs=(size=6)  ;
   xaxis label=" " fitpolicy=rotate labelattrs=(size=6) valueattrs=(size=6);
   yaxis label="Number of Respondents" labelattrs=(size=6) valueattrs=(size=6); 
run;

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

Tom — Tue, 13 May 2025 14:19:27 GMT

What type of variable is COUNTRY? Is it NUMERIC of CHRACTER? Does it have FORMAT attached to it?

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

bhr-q — Tue, 13 May 2025 14:35:07 GMT

Thanks for your answer, country is the character variable, and yes there is a format in my coding like '1'='Afghanistan'
'2'='Albania'
etc

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

PaigeMiller — Tue, 13 May 2025 14:54:15 GMT

The problem comes in that if Afghanistan is '1' and you sort these then whatever country '10' is should be next. Why? Because when you sort alphabetically, after '1' the next sorted value will be '10'.

If you want to sort by country name alphabetically you probably need to create a variable that contains the country name and sort that.

length country_name $ 40;
country_name=put(country,$formatname.);

or by changing the sort (and assuming your numbers in the format are always in alphabetical order of the country_names)

proc sort data=freq sortseq=linguistic(numeric_collation=ON);
by country;
run;

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

bhr-q — Tue, 13 May 2025 15:05:22 GMT

I tried this way, with your first way, the plot is like below: it ignores the name of the country

with your second way, would be like below: didn't sort

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

PaigeMiller — Tue, 13 May 2025 15:15:58 GMT

Show us the PROC FORMAT you are using.

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

bhr-q — Tue, 13 May 2025 15:40:25 GMT

proc format ;
value $country_ '1'='Afghanistan' '2'='Albania' 
		'3'='Algeria' '4'='Andorra' 
		'5'='Angola' '6'='Antigua and Barbuda' 
		'7'='Argentina' '8'='Armenia' 
		'9'='Australia' '10'='Austria' 
		'11'='Azerbaijan' '12'='Bahamas' 
		'13'='Bahrain' '14'='Bangladesh' 
		'15'='Barbados' '16'='Belarus' 
		'17'='Belgium' '18'='Belize' 
		'19'='Benin' '20'='Bhutan' 
		'21'='Bolivia' '22'='Bosnia and Herzegovina' 
		'23'='Botswana' '24'='Brazil' 
		'25'='Brunei' '26'='Bulgaria' 
		'27'='Burkina Faso' '28'='Burundi' 
		'29'='Cabo Verde' '30'='Cambodia' 
		'31'='Cameroon' '32'='Canada' 
		'33'='Central African Republic' '34'='Chad' 
		'35'='Chile' '36'='China' 
		'37'='Colombia' '38'='Comoros' 
		'39'='Costa Rica' 
		'40'='Côte Ivoire' '41'='Croatia' 
		'42'='Cuba' '43'='Cyprus' 
		'44'='Czech Republic' '45'='Denmark' 
		'46'='Djibouti' '47'='Dominica' 
		'48'='Dominican Republic' '49'='East Timor (Timor-Leste)' 
		'50'='Ecuador' '51'='Egypt' 
		'52'='El Salvador' '53'='Equatorial Guinea' 
		'54'='Eritrea' '55'='Estonia' 
		'56'='Eswatini' '57'='Ethiopia' 
		'58'='Fiji' '59'='Finland' 
		'60'='France' '61'='Gabon' 
		'62'='The Gambia' '63'='Georgia' 
		'64'='Germany' '65'='Ghana' 
		'66'='Greece' '67'='Grenada' 
		'68'='Guatemala' '69'='Guinea' 
		'70'='Guinea-Bissau' '71'='Guyana' 
		'72'='Haiti' '73'='Honduras' 
		'74'='Hungary' '75'='Iceland' 
		'76'='India' '77'='Indonesia' 
		'78'='Iran' '79'='Iraq' 
		'80'='Ireland' '81'='Israel' 
		'82'='Italy' '83'='Jamaica' 
		'84'='Japan' '85'='Jordan' 
		'86'='Kazakhstan' '87'='Kenya' 
		'88'='Kiribati' 'Korea'='South' 
		'89'='Kosovo' '90'='Kuwait' 
		'91'='Kyrgyzstan' '92'='Laos' 
		'93'='Latvia' '94'='Lebanon' 
		'95'='Lesotho' '96'='Liberia' 
		'97'='Libya' '98'='Liechtenstein' 
		'99'='Lithuania' '100'='Luxembourg' 
		'101'='Madagascar' '102'='Malawi' 
		'103'='Malaysia' '104'='Maldives' 
		'105'='Mali' '106'='Malta' 
		'107'='Marshall Islands' '108'='Mauritania' 
		'109'='Mauritius' '110'='Mexico' 
		'211'='Micronesia' '111'='Moldova' 
		'112'='Monaco' '113'='Mongolia' 
		'114'='Montenegro' '115'='Morocco' 
		'116'='Mozambique' '117'='Myanmar' 
		'118'='Namibia' '119'='Nauru' 
		'120'='Nepal' '121'='Netherlands' 
		'122'='New Zealand' '123'='Nicaragua' 
		'124'='Niger' '125'='Nigeria' 
		'126'='North Macedonia' '127'='Norway' 
		'128'='Oman' '129'='Pakistan' 
		'130'='Palau' '131'='Panama' 
		'132'='Papua New Guinea' '133'='Paraguay' 
		'134'='Peru' '135'='Philippines' 
		'136'='Poland' '137'='Portugal' 
		'138'='Qatar' '139'='Romania' 
		'140'='Russia' '141'='Rwanda' 
		'142'='Saint Kitts and Nevis' '143'='Saint Lucia' 
		'144'='Saint Vincent and the Grenadines' '145'='Samoa' 
		'146'='San Marino' '147'='Sao Tome and Principe' 
		'148'='Saudi Arabia' '149'='Senegal' 
		'150'='Serbia' '151'='Seychelles' 
		'152'='Sierra Leone' '153'='Singapore' 
		'154'='Slovakia' '155'='Slovenia' 
		'156'='Solomon Islands' '157'='Somalia' 
		'158'='South Africa' '159'='Spain' 
		'160'='Sri Lanka' '161'='Sudan' 
		'Sudan'='South' '162'='Suriname' 
		'163'='Sweden' '164'='Switzerland' 
		'165'='Syria' '166'='Taiwan' 
		'167'='Tajikistan' '168'='Tanzania' 
		'169'='Thailand' '170'='Togo' 
		'171'='Tonga' '172'='Trinidad and Tobago' 
		'173'='Tunisia' '174'='Turkey' 
		'175'='Turkmenistan' '176'='Tuvalu' 
		'177'='Uganda' '178'='Ukraine' 
		'179'='United Arab Emirates' '180'='United Kingdom' 
		'181'='United States' '182'='Uruguay' 
		'183'='Uzbekistan' '184'='Vanuatu' 
		'185'='Vatican City' '186'='Venezuela' 
		'187'='Vietnam' '188'='Yemen' 
		'189'='Zambia' '190'='Zimbabwe'

run;

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

PaigeMiller — Tue, 13 May 2025 15:45:16 GMT

I don't see where you create a new variable country_name and then sorted by country_name

Works for me

data fake;
    input country $ count;
    cards;
1 28
173 55
109 4
127 33
2 48
20 99
188 4
;
data fake1;
    set fake;
    country_name=put(country,$country_.);
run;
proc sort data=fake1;
    by country_name;
run;

proc sgplot data=fake1;
    vbar country_name/response=count;
run;

PS: You need to show us the code you used whenever something doesn't work. Showing us the output plots are not sufficient. We need to see the code, for this problem and for all future problems, when something doesn't work.

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

bhr-q — Tue, 13 May 2025 15:59:25 GMT

Thank you for your help, it works, I used $country_fmt instead of $country_ by mistake.

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

PaigeMiller — Tue, 13 May 2025 16:28:44 GMT

Please remember to show us the code from now on.

Re: How to display the bars in alphabetical order?

bhr-q — Tue, 13 May 2025 16:31:06 GMT

my code has been shown in my initial comment, in your previous comment you asked me to show the proc format that I did.