https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Format-Problems/m-p/72018#M20834 Somehow you have made bmistatus into a character variable. Do a PROC CONTENTS to confirm. A variable of type CHAR can have numbers as it's content. Check around for quotes (' or ") and for a $ sign in a LENGTH or INPUT statement near the variable name.<BR /> <BR /> Doc Muhlbaier<BR /> Duke Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:05:41 GMT Doc_Duke 2009-02-03T04:05:41Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Format-Problems/m-p/72017#M20833 I am currently in an SAS class and am having great difficulty trying to figure this out.<BR /> <BR /> For an assignment you need to code 3 new variables as -1,0,1,2 using if/then statements from previous variables.<BR /> <BR /> I need to take these newly coded variables (-1,0,1,2)<BR /> <BR /> and format into a character string.<BR /> SAS keeps telling me the <BR /> You are trying to use the numeric format BMIFMT with the character variable BMIstatus<BR /> <BR /> <BR /> although bmistatus is a number, I'm so confused<BR /> <BR /> Please someone help me i Have the syntax if needed. Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:19:48 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Format-Problems/m-p/72017#M20833 deleted_user 2009-02-03T00:19:48Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Format-Problems/m-p/72018#M20834 Somehow you have made bmistatus into a character variable. Do a PROC CONTENTS to confirm. A variable of type CHAR can have numbers as it's content. Check around for quotes (' or ") and for a $ sign in a LENGTH or INPUT statement near the variable name.<BR /> <BR /> Doc Muhlbaier<BR /> Duke Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:05:41 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Procedures/Format-Problems/m-p/72018#M20834 Doc_Duke 2009-02-03T04:05:41Z