Help with Proc Format

[Mgarret]

Hi all-

I have a column that contains a question text response. When the preceding question is marked "other" you are asked to please explan what  "other" is. For all the questions where "other" was not marked a *99 in generated

The column looks like this:

Q15
*99
*99
*explanation sentence text text text text text of various lengths
*99
*99
*explanation sentence text text text text text of various lengths
*99
*99
*explanation sentence text text text text text of various lengths
*explanation sentence text text text text text of various lengths

I'm trying to use proc format to assign a value lable of "Skipped" to *99.

I would like the column to look like this:

Q15
Skipped
Skipped
*explanation sentence text text text text text of various lengths
Skipped
Skipped
*explanation sentence text text text text text of various lengths
Skipped
Skipped
*explanation sentence text text text text text of various lengths
*explanation sentence text text text text text of various lengths

This is the proc format statement I wrote:

proc format;

value  $other

'*99'='Skipped';

run;

When I apply the format, I don't get the result that I want. The explanations get cut off.

So, i get this.

Q15
Skipped
Skipped
*explan
Skipped
Skipped
*explan
Skipped
Skipped
*explan
*explan

Is there anyway i can modify the proc format statement  so the explanations don't get cut off and I can still assign a value label to *99?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[art297 · Accepted solution]

Matthew,

I can't test it tonight, but do you get what you want if you include the default option when specifying the format in proc format (see: http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/proc/61895/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a002473473.htm ) ?

[Mgarret]

Yes, that was what im looking for. Thanks Art.

[kuridisanjeev]

There is a easy way to avoid this truncation..

you can use this code..

proc format;

value $test (default=50)

"*99"="*skipped";

run;

(In default= option you can specify length for the fomat)