I like to refer to the "informat hunter"
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0705B&L=sas-l&P=58404 (which I posted to SAS-L a few years ago).
It is just SAS9 data step code trialling all available formats to demonstrate how a sample of your value could be read. Easy exercise to adapt to demonstrate formats instead of informats.
Rather than loop through your data, the "format hunter" loops through sashelp.vformat.
The PUT() function must have its format hard-coded at compile-time, but the putN(), and inputN() fumctions allow the format to be defined at run-time, so we can get SAS to replace the cheat-sheet at
http://www.sascommunity.org/wiki/TS_486_Functions,_Informats,_and_Formats with a fully complete review of every single format/informat available in your session (including user-defined formats and informats). Vformat even provides the min and max widths valid for each format (except for user formats
😞 but ) It is a great resource
peterC