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Steelers_In_DC
Barite | Level 11

It doesn't matter if using infile/input, proc sql or a data step.  I am interested in selecting a column by it's position and renaming it.  I will have a SAS dataset where the column names might change, one is only 2*3, very small but I have to reference it and cannot bet on the variable names being constant going forward.   Any way to select the variable names by ordinal position and rename them?

Thanks,

Mark

2 REPLIES 2
data_null__
Jade | Level 19

In a data step you can define an ARRAY and reference the columns by their index.  Say you want to work with numeric column number 3.

data reference;
   set sashelp.heart;
   array _n
  • _numeric_;
      
    * Reference to numeric column 3;
      
    if _n[3] lt 50;
      
    run;
    data_null__
    Jade | Level 19

    Or you can rename all the variable using their column index.

    data heart;
       set sashelp.heart(obs=10);
       run;

    proc transpose data=heart(obs=0 /*keep=_numeric_*/) out=vars;
       var _all_;
       run;
    filename FT76F001 temp;
    data _null_;
      
    file FT76F001;
       set vars;
       put 'Rename ' _name_ '=Col' _n_ ';';
      
    run;

    proc datasets;
      
    modify heart;
       %inc FT76F001;
       run;
      
    quit;
    proc print data=heart;
       run;

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