how to assign max length of record value to the variable length

[varam]

I have data like this:

Race 

white                5

American         8

black or white  14 

that digits are the length of each record

how to assign max length of the record to the variable length by using a macro, please tell the logic how to solve

[Reeza]

Why a macro? What are you trying to do overall? What have you tried so far?

If you want to find the maximum of a numeric value you can use PROC MEANS or any data step or SQL. Depending on what you want to do afterwards will define which is the best approach.

EDIT: FYI - I moved your question from the developer community to the SAS New Users which seems more appropriate based on your question. 

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@varam wrote:

I have data like this:

Race 

white                5

American         8

black or white  14 

that digits are the length of each record

how to assign max length of the record to the variable length by using a macro, please tell the logic how to solve

---

[Patrick]

Best is to know your data and define variables based on this knowledge (like a pre-defined data dictionary).

If I understand your question then below code for what you've been asking for.

data have;
  input myvar $50.;
  datalines;
white
American
black or white
;

proc sql noprint;
  select max(lengthn(myvar)) into :myvar_max_len trimmed
  from have
  ;
quit;
%put &=myvar_max_len;


data want;
  length myvar $ &myvar_max_len;
  set have(rename=(myvar=_myvar));
  myvar=_myvar;
  drop _myvar;
run;

proc contents data=want;
run;

If you just want to reduce the variable length to save storage space then consider using option compress=yes as this will compress blanks when storing a SAS table on disk.