Help with proc format step, creating new custom column formats

[marleeakerson]

When creating new column formats in the proc format step, why do you sometimes need a dollar sign before the format name and sometimes you don't? In this example I cam trying to make two new custom column formats - genftm and hrange. 

proc format;
    value $genfmt 'F'='Female'
                  'M'='Male';
  
    value hrange 50-57='Below Average'
                 58-60='Average'
                 61-70='Above Average';
run;

[Astounding · Accepted solution]

The dollar sign indicates that the format translates character strrings (such as "F" and "M").  No dollar sign means that the format translates numbers.

The dollar sign is actually part of the format name, so don't leave a space after the dollar sign.