Hi,
I was reading Scan function on support site (SAS(R) 9.2 Language Reference: Dictionary, Fourth Edition) . It is written that, In a DATA step, if the SCAN function returns a value to a variable that has not yet been given a length, then that variable is given a length of 200 characters. If you need the SCAN function to assign to a variable a word that is longer than 200 characters, then you should explicitly specify the length of that variable.
But when I am executing the below data steps
data test1;
title = 'Writing as much Macros as possible so that they can be used in other modules as well.';
word=scan(title,1,' ');
run;
data test2;
word=scan('Writing as much Macros as possible so that they can be used in other modules as well.',1,' ');
run;
The length of variable word in both the data sets is 85 .
I just need to understand why is the length not 200 and 85.
You need to look at the documentation for the version of SAS that you are actually using.
In a DATA step, if the SCAN function returns a value to a variable that has not yet been given a length, that variable is given the length of the first argument. If you need the SCAN function to assign to a variable a value that is different from the length of the first argument, use a LENGTH statement for that variable before the statement that uses the SCAN function.
You need to look at the documentation for the version of SAS that you are actually using.
In a DATA step, if the SCAN function returns a value to a variable that has not yet been given a length, that variable is given the length of the first argument. If you need the SCAN function to assign to a variable a value that is different from the length of the first argument, use a LENGTH statement for that variable before the statement that uses the SCAN function.
My bad, I am using SAS 9.4 but was looking at SAS 9.2 documentation.
Thanks for pointing that out.
"you should explicitly specify the length of that variable"
IMO you should always explicitly state the length of a variable. Otherwise you may get differing results if the data changes.
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