Hi @nmlynar13,
In addition to what has already been said, note that the variable itself has a type (character or numeric), the type of the variable cannot be changed, a new variable of the desired type will have to be created to hold the converted value, as in the example below. If desired, drop and rename data set options or statements can be used to have the same variable name on the output data set.
data have;
set sashelp.class;
/* create a character variable age2 to hold the value of numeric variable age */
age2 = put(age,8.);
run;
Kind regards,
Amir.