topic Re: specify types of variable informat in proc import in SAS Procedures

specify types of variable informat in proc import

Rickyboy — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 16:40:53 GMT

Good morning

i m trying to write a macro that imports some csv files and then appends them

%macro import(start,end);

proc sql;

%do i=&start. %to &end.;

PROC IMPORT

DATAFILE="C\data&i..csv"

OUT=work.data&i. ;

run;

%END;

quit;

%mend;

%import(start=1, end=22)

It works

except for the fact that sometimes it imports some of the columns as text and some other as values , which means that the successive APPEND procedure fails because the columns are not the same

is there a way I can specify the informat for these 2 columns or alternatively import everything as text and then change it into my desired format once I have appended the file.

I understand this is due to the algorithm used to determine if a column is text or number used by sas

I have looked at the documentation for sas and I m not sure any of the option listed are relevant

Kind regards

A frustrated user !

Re: specify types of variable informat in proc import

RW9 — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 16:49:42 GMT

Drop the proc import - this is a guessing procedure hence why you get different results.

Write a datastep import (you can use the output from the proc import to save time typing it all in). In this you can specify formats, informats, lengths, labels etc.

Using wildcard notation you can read all the csv files in one go. See:

https://communities.sas.com/t5/Base-SAS-Programming/Help-merging-multiple-CSV-files-to-a-dataset/td-p/184804

Re: specify types of variable informat in proc import

Reeza — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 16:54:09 GMT

Try GUESSINGROWS=MAX but I would strongly recommend using the data step approach.

Run a PROC IMPORT once, copy the code from the log. Make sure all types/formats are correct and use that inside your macro instead.

@Rickyboy wrote:

Good morning

i m trying to write a macro that imports some csv files and then appends them

%macro import(start,end);

proc sql;

%do i=&start. %to &end.;

PROC IMPORT

DATAFILE="C\data&i..csv"

OUT=work.data&i. ;

run;

%END;

quit;

%mend;

%import(start=1, end=22)

It works

except for the fact that sometimes it imports some of the columns as text and some other as values , which means that the successive APPEND procedure fails because the columns are not the same

is there a way I can specify the informat for these 2 columns or alternatively import everything as text and then change it into my desired format once I have appended the file.

I understand this is due to the algorithm used to determine if a column is text or number used by sas

I have looked at the documentation for sas and I m not sure any of the option listed are relevant

Kind regards

A frustrated user !