reading/importing a .rpt file

[datalligence]

I have this .rpt file of about 100,000 records. I want to directly read or import this into SAS. The data is of fixed width type where fields are aligned in columns with spaces bewteen each field.

When the file size was smaller, or the # of records were less I was able to import it into excel, save it as a tab-delimted text file and then import it directly into SAS. There are a lot of fields/variables and I don't want to use column inputs+informats for such a long list of variables, so how do i import/read this .rpt file into SAS?

And can I use infile statement with column and informat specifications if there is no other option?

Thanks,
Romakanta

[Doc_Duke]

Yes. When SAS started (and was still known as the "Statistical Analysis System") that's the way almost all data came in. If it really is fixed columns with spaces, you can just list the variables in order. Check the documentation for the INPUT statement for details of addressing character variables and how to address missing data.

Another approach would be to read the data as one long character string, use the Perl regular expressions (in SAS) to replace every set of one or more blanks with a TAB, write it out, and then re-read it as tab delimited.

Doc Muhlbaier
Duke

[deleted_user]

Have you tried in EG the "File, Import Data ..." menu selection?