topic How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT] in SAS Procedures

How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

VX_Xc — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:23:53 GMT

PROC FORMAT;

VALUE format5a 7 -< HIGH = '7 to max exclusive';

VALUE format6a LOW <- HIGH = 'All the range excluding min' ;

run;

Above sends error.

I can do it without the excluding symbol (i.e. - rather than -<).

How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

VX_Xc — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:42:02 GMT

What options do I have to make it work?

How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

art297 — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:52:49 GMT

My initial guess is that it is either a bug or the documentation isn't correct. According to the documentation it should work.

Re: How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

VX_Xc — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:59:28 GMT

166 PROC FORMAT;

167 VALUE format5a 7 -< HIGH = '7 to max exclusive';

----

ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: a quoted string, a numeric constant,

a datetime constant, a missing value.

ERROR 76-322: Syntax error, statement will be ignored.

NOTE: The previous statement has been deleted.

168 VALUE format6a LOW <- HIGH = 'All the range' ;

200

ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: ',', -, =.

ERROR 200-322: The symbol is not recognized and will be ignored.

NOTE: The previous statement has been deleted.

169 run;

NOTE: PROCEDURE FORMAT used (Total process time):

real time 15.56 seconds

cpu time 1.56 seconds

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.

This is what I got....

How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

FriedEgg — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:01:08 GMT

The issue is not the condition it is the usage of high and low with this excluding symbol. This exception is not in the documentation.

Re: How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

Tom — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:53:45 GMT

Not sure what you are trying to get SAS to do.

If you want the full range use LOW - HIGH.

I cannot see any meaning trying to exclude LOW or HIGH (whatever actual number they might be).

Re: How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

art297 — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:56:03 GMT

I can. Any values EXCEPT the extreme outliers.

Re: How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

art297 — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:28:20 GMT

While the documentation doesn't appear to define them, low and high might be the lowest and highest values possible on one's system and, if so, it wouldn't have much applicability to exclude them.

However, if you wanted to create a format that excluded the highest are lowest values in your data, you could always created macro variables that set the values before defining the desired formats. E.g.:

data have;

informat dates date9.;

format dates date9.;

input dates;

cards;

01dec2011

02dec2011

03dec2011

04dec2011

05dec2011

06dec2011

07dec2011

08dec2011

;

proc sql noprint;

select distinct min(dates),max(dates)

into :low,:high

from have

;

quit;

PROC FORMAT;

VALUE format5a '05dec2011'd-< &HIGH = "12/5 to max exclusive";

VALUE format6a &LOW<-'08dec2011'd = "All the range excluding min";

run;

data test;

set have;

format dates1 format5a.;

format dates2 format6a.;

dates1=dates;

dates2=dates;

run;

Re: How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

VX_Xc — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:14:01 GMT

My reason is simple, "I don't like minimum and maximum of a variable. "

Re: How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

Tom — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:09:38 GMT

You will need to use something other than (or in addition to) a format to eliminate the minimum and maximum observed values. HIGH and LOW in the VALUE statement just mean the largest and smallest floating point number possible on the machine's hardware.

How do I exclude keywords in range [PROC FORMAT]

VX_Xc — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 05:41:42 GMT

Ok, so it's not a defined (closed form) value?

Intuitively for me(person without computer related degree) if HIGH is defined to be a general term that maps itself onto the maximum value of given numeric variable then I think of it as just an object that is assigned with the maximum of given variable.

Thanks for the info.