to combine 2 character columns into one new column

[SKP]

hi,

I have 2 character columns in a table, and am tring to combine the 2 columns into new column, like I can concatenate in excel.

How can i combine the 2 with SQL query?

Thanks,

SKP

[mkeintz]

proc sql;

 create table want as select *,  cats(col1,col2) as new_column from have;

quit;

[SKP]

Thank you for your reply.  I've tried your query, the new column was added and it's blank, even col1 and col2 show some characters.  what could be a reason why this returns blank?

Also, if I want to have space or underscore between col1 and col2, how can I adjust cats formula?

Thanks,

SKP

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

Look at CATX instead then. 

See How to concatenate values in SAS for function definitions and examples.

The list of SAS functions can be found here.

[RW9]

We have no way of telling.  You have not provided any test data, example output, logs etc. to make any kind of judgement.  If you want good answers then post good questions.  Post example test data, in the form of a datastep, which highlights your question.  If you have some code or example output, then provide that as well. 

As per the manual, cats, catx, catt, cat, || are all concatentation functions - you can find more information in the manual on each.  They can be used in proc SQL - as long as it is not pass-through SQL - and should work perfectly well.

[hmoghul]

Hi,

Suppose you got this dataset and want to combine two columns :

data ddd;

input ID var1 $ var2 $;

cards;

1 a . 

2 . b

3 . c

4 d .

5 e . 

;

run;

proc sql;

select coalesce(var1,var2) as combine_var

from ddd;

quit;