entering odd character data

[Damon1]

Hi Everyone, 

I'm new to sas, and I am trying to enter a data set, where some of the character data contain spaces, apostrophes, and a dash. I'm not sure how to do this, and i keep getting a weird output. I have tried to use both the CHAR and VARYING informats, but i could be doing it wrong. I have provided both the code that i've tried and the output im getting below. I am required to do this using datalines. 

DATA cancer;

 INPUT type $char. new_cases yearly_deaths survival percent3.;

 DATALINES;

   breast 271270 42260 90%

   lung 228150 142670 23%

   prostate 164690 29430 98%

   colorectal 145600 51020 64%

   melanoma 96480 7230 92%

   bladder 80470 17670 77%

   non-hodgkin's lymphoma 74200 19970 71%

   kidney 73820 14770 75%

   endometrial 61880 12160 84%

   leukemia 61780 22840 61%

   pancreatic 56770 45750 9%

   thyroid 52070 2170 99%

   liver 42030 31780 18%

 ;

RUN;

PROC PRINT data=cancer;

RUN;

gives me 

The SAS System

Obs	type	new_cases	yearly_deaths	survival
1	breast	271270	42260	0.90
2	lung 22	8150	142670	0.23
3	prostat	.	164690	294.00
4	colorec	.	145600	510.00
5	melanom	.	96480	723.00
6	bladder	80470	17670	0.77
7	non-hod	.	.	742.00
8	kidney	73820	14770	0.75
9	endomet	.	61880	121.00
10	leukemi	.	61780	228.00
11	pancrea	.	56770	457.00
12	thyroid	52070	2170	0.99
13	liver 4	2030	31780	0.18

I've also tried putting "$VARYING." as well as entering DLM=',' and separating the data by commas, which made it worse. 

If anyone knows what i should enter or has any advice on how to handle this is would be greatly appreciate. 

Thanks

[Reeza]

Is this the exact data you need to input or do you need to generalize this to a real data set. In reality if your data set has spaces both within the field and it's also a delimiter then how can you tell the computer which is a new field and which isn't? Its not possible.

There are other ways, including specifying a different delimiter such as a comma. You say you tried that but didn't show that. That would be the approach I'd use.


Add this line to your code:

INFILE cards dlm=',' DSD TRUNCOVER;

Put that before your input after you add the comma's and you should be fine.

[novinosrin · Accepted solution]

Hi @Damon1  Great effort, I'm very impressed with your clear leads that i noticed in the way you attempted. Welcome to SAS communities. You were close and it's a piece of cake. A little help from us. Have fun!

data want;
input @;
_n_=anydigit(_infile_)-1;
INPUT type $varying32. _n_
 new_cases yearly_deaths survival :percent3.;
format survival percent.;
 DATALINES;
   breast 271270 42260 90%
   lung 228150 142670 23%
   prostate 164690 29430 98%
   colorectal 145600 51020 64%
   melanoma 96480 7230 92%
   bladder 80470 17670 77%
   non-hodgkin's lymphoma 74200 19970 71%
   kidney 73820 14770 75%
   endometrial 61880 12160 84%
   leukemia 61780 22840 61%
   pancreatic 56770 45750 9%
   thyroid 52070 2170 99%
   liver 42030 31780 18%
 ;

RUN;

[Damon1]

This worked perfectly 🙂 Thanks so much!!!

[mkeintz]

If

1. TYPE always has at least one word - i.e. never empty.
2. None of those words has a numeric character in it.
3. Every one of the following variables has no internal blank, 

then you can find the position (FN) of the first numeric character, then transcribe characters 1 through FN-1 into TYPE, and (starting at position FN) use in INPUT statement to get all the other variables:

DATA cancer (drop=fn);
 input @;
 fn=anydigit(_infile_);
 length type $40;
 type=substr(_infile_,1,fn-1);
 INPUT @fn new_cases yearly_deaths survival percent3.;
 DATALINES;
   breast 271270 42260 90%
   lung 228150 142670 23%
   prostate 164690 29430 98%
   colorectal 145600 51020 64%
   melanoma 96480 7230 92%
   bladder 80470 17670 77%
   non-hodgkin's lymphoma 74200 19970 71%
   kidney 73820 14770 75%
   endometrial 61880 12160 84%
   leukemia 61780 22840 61%
   pancreatic 56770 45750 9%
   thyroid 52070 2170 99%
   liver 42030 31780 18%
 ;

The "trick" here is the bald INPUT statement which does nothing to transfer the input data line to automatic variable _INFILE_.  Then the ANYDIGIT function finds the position of the first number.  The SUBSTR function copies the first FN-1 characters to TYPE.  Then the INPUT function, starting at position FN, reads the rest.

The trailing "@" in the first INPUT statement is essential.  Otherwise the next INPUT would read from the next line, instead of from the current line (i.e. from the current _INFILE_ content).

I assume that TYPE is no more the 40 characters long.