Renaming the variables

[pp2014]

How do I rename the Variables based on the following: I have variables like    MAT___09_20091                                              MAT___09_20092                                                MAT___09_20093 Based on the last character 1 (abc) , 2 (xyz)  and  3 (hgk), I want to rename them as abc_09_2009, xyz_09_2009, and   hgk_09_2009. I may have various variables like this MAT___09_20101, MAT___09_20102 and so on.  Also I want to rename the following field as  MAT____09_2009, MAT____09_2010  as Growth_09_2009, Growth_09_2010 Thanks for any help..

[pp2014]

any help???

[pp2014]

I tried the following but it does not work.  What I am doing wrong data want;   set sashelp.vcolumn;   where libname='WORK' and memname='TEST';   if substr(name,1,3) = "MAT" and substr(name,7,1) = "_"  then     call execute('proc datasets ;modify TEST;rename  name  = "Growth" || substr(name,7)'); run;

[Astounding]

The approach looks quite feasible.  One area where you are encountering trouble is the code being passed through CALL EXECUTE.  In your DATA step, NAME refers to the name of a variable within sashelp.vcolumn.  It should not be in quotes if you want it to be replaced with the NAME's value.  So this string would be closer to what you need:

call execute('proc datasets; modify TEST; rename ' || name || '= Growth' || substr(name,7) || ';');

Good luck.

[pp2014]

Thanks Astounding it worked..

[Astounding]

Great.  A few tweaks then ...

Your data set WANT does not need to be saved.  You could use data _null_ instead.

Your code is generating many instances of PROC DATASETS.  You could generate just one instead:

if _n_=1 then call execute('proc datasets; modify TEST;');

Then the later IF/THEN statements could generate just the RENAME statements.

Good luck.

[pp2014]

Astounding I got error for the following, how can I get rid of that error.  Is there any string function I should be using. data _NULL_;   set sashelp.vcolumn;   where libname='WORK' and memname='TEST';     if substr(name,1,3) = "MAT" and substr(name,14,1) ^= " "  then do;       if substr(name,14,1)  = "1"  then do;      call execute('proc datasets; modify TEST; rename ' || name || '= MA-ABC.GROWTH' || substr(name,6,13) || ';');  end; end; run; I got error for MA-ABC.GROWTH.

[Astounding]

Well, names of variables in SAS are restricted to underscores, letters and numbers.  Dashes and periods would not be valid characters for naming a variable.

There are ways around this, but they make future programming very cumbersome.