how to deal variable name "a2-4"

[walterwang]

I imported a table from Excel. The variable name is "a2-4". How to deal with these names?

Thanks

[Patrick]

Depending on how you import there might be options available for SAS to translate source column names into valid SAS variable names. 

If it's not a valid name then you must quote it as a SAS name literal when you use the column in code as done below:

'a2-4'n = 5;

[SASKiwi · Accepted solution]

Setting the SAS option VALIDVARNAME to V7 will automatically translate variable names to valid SAS names. So a2-4 will be renamed to a2_4. This is actually a good practice to follow as it avoids having to reference non-valid SAS variable names as @Patrick describes: 'a2-4'n

[Kurt_Bremser]

Use the "name literal" as suggested by @Patrick to immediately rename them to valid SAS names (like a2_4).