topic Re: Not having to type a string of variables in SAS Procedures

Not having to type a string of variables

lady8506 — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:54:54 GMT

I have this dataset with over 50 variables all starting with the same prefix (cares_sf_1, cares_sf_2, cares_sf_3, cares_sf_4 ,and so on up to 50). I am trying to do create an array that contains all these variables without having to type each one of them out. Is there a way to do this? I thought 'cares_sf_1-cares_sf_7" might work, but apparently it doesn't appear to be the right syntax and I can't find a solution through google searches.

Here is what I've currently done that isn't working:

DATA CARES; SET RedcapDB;
ARRAY acares_sf_{7} cares_sf_1-cares_sf_7;
DO i = 1 to 7;
acares_sf_[i] = cares_sf_[i] - 1;
END;
RUN;

Error message:

7120  DATA CARES; SET RedcapDB;
7121  ARRAY acares_sf_{7} cares_sf_1-cares_sf_7;
7122  DO i = 1 to 7;
7123  acares_sf_[i] = cares_sf_[i] - 1;
ERROR: Undeclared array referenced: cares_sf_.
ERROR: Variable cares_sf_ has not been declared as an array.
7124  END;
7125  RUN;

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

Re: Not having to type a string of variables

ballardw — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 14:57:48 GMT

You need to declare two arrays acares and cares, OR you meant acares but typed cares.

Your list approach should work just fine if the array statement is correct.

Re: Not having to type a string of variables

lady8506 — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 15:02:42 GMT

Hey Ballard, I just figured out what I was doing wrong. Thanks for replying.

Re: Not having to type a string of variables

Reeza — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 15:15:47 GMT

You're looking for something called variable lists.

Another option is the colon short cut, which includes everything with that prefix:

array myArray(*) prefix: ;

Re: Not having to type a string of variables

Astounding — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 15:18:21 GMT

Assuming you fixed the array name reference, you will also need to change the DO loop: do i=2 to 7;

There is no 0th element to copy into the 1st element.