topic how to deal with the blank when input data? in SAS Procedures

how to deal with the blank when input data?

littlestone — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:59:30 GMT

Hello, All

Suppose I input just one variable Var:

Data Test;
Informat Var $10.;
input Var;
Cards;
abcdefg
ab cdefg
;

I got the following result:

abcdefg

It seems to me that the informat does not work for records 2 in which only the first two characters were recognized because the third character is a blank.

How to let SAS know that the blank character is also part of the data?

Re: how to deal with the blank when input data?

OS2Rules — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:09:03 GMT

Hi:

You can use:

input @001 var $char10.;

as long as the data lines start in cc01.

Re: how to deal with the blank when input data?

data_null__ — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:22:16 GMT

You can also add & after VAR in INPUT statement. INPUT VAR &;

You should read about LIST, FORMATTED, COLUMN and NAMED input to understand the nuances of the INPUT statement and the interaction of INFORMAT INPUT and INFILE etc.

how to deal with the blank when input data?

littlestone — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:10:45 GMT

Thank you all for helping me.

By the way: what is the difference between input @1 and input @001 ?

how to deal with the blank when input data?

FriedEgg — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:16:25 GMT

nope

Re: how to deal with the blank when input data?

Tom — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:23:38 GMT

No difference. They might have used the extra zeros to just make the code look more consistent.

INPUT

@001 var1 $120.

@121 var2 5.

...

;

Re: how to deal with the blank when input data?

Ksharp — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 08:49:10 GMT

You can also use a helpful informat $varying.Such as:

data temp;

infile datalines length=len;

input var $varying200. len;

datalines;

............

Ksharp

how to deal with the blank when input data?

littlestone — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:34:46 GMT

I apologize for repling late.

Thank you all for great help.