topic changing a variable attribute in SAS Procedures

changing a variable attribute

pammers — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 20:58:23 GMT

I am trying to merge two files into a new combined file. Both files have many of the same variables. I am getting an error message on merging that says something to the effect "variables are both character and numeric." For example, there is one variable called "extract_month." In one file it is listed as "char" and in the other "numeric". (no idea how this happened!). I went into the attributes to change one from char to numeric but I can't change. I am only assuming this is the only problem with the merge. Any idea how to fix it? Thanks!

Re: changing a variable attribute

Reeza — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 21:02:28 GMT

You can't change a variable type once it exists. You can drop the variable and recreate it however as a character/numeric.

However, it's usually easier to go back in your steps and fix that variable from the start.

Should the variable be numeric or character is the first question? - that's a business use/knowledge question that we can't answer

Why isn't it the correct type? - import from Excel where it assumed types, or from PROC IMPORT?

Where to fix it? - Ideally in the import step but you can also fix it after the fact.

If you do a SQL merge you can fix it in the join directly as well.

Re: changing a variable attribute

BrunoMueller — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 21:06:01 GMT

You have to convert one of the variables, so that both have the same type.

See http://support.sas.com/kb/24/590.html and https://blogs.sas.com/content/sgf/2017/03/28/changing-variable-type-and-variable-length-in-sas-datasets/

Also check the programs that created the two datasets, maybe you can already change it there.