Variable vs Fixed

[Clybersoft]

What considerations should be made when switching from variable length records to fixed length records in formatting data?

[Doc_Duke]

Please be more specific.  SAS datasets store data as fixed length fields, so I am not sure of the context.

Doc Muhlbaier

Duke

[Clybersoft]

I'm using an Excel Spreadsheet to import data and was wondering what changes I need to make or be concerned about when going from a variable length record to a fixed one. Especially when it comes to the options settings I am using (i.e. GETNAMES, SCANTEXT, etc.). I'm looking more for generic answers than specific ones here.

Thanks,

Yoda

[Doc_Duke]

SAS's PROC IMPORT will use the maximum number of columns that it observes in the rows that are scanned to determine a size unless you do a manual override.  It's in the documentation for SCANTEXT and TypeGuessingRows.

I'm not sure how the EGuide import wizard does it, though I've generally found it to be accurate.

Doc Muhlbaier

[Clybersoft]

Thanks for the info. I'm building all of mine from scratch as it is a customized system and EGuide doesn't give me the granularity I need.

Appreciate it Doc,

Yoda

[Petersas]

in case of infile use lrecl=x not sure about EG