Change a character variable to a numeric variable

[PaulN]

I want to change a character variable to a numeric variable.  The column name is VALUE (length=8, type=char, format=$8., informat=$8.) and the character values in the VALUE column look like this:

VALUE

-2,88

2,68

-6,22

-4,57

5,42

and so on

I know that I should use the input function and I want to change the commas to decimals points.  Data is coming from Europe so it's using the comma instead of a decimal point.

num_value=input(value,????);

Any help is appreciated.

[PeterClemmensen · Accepted solution]

Something like

data have;
input VALUE $;
datalines;
-2,88 
2,68  
-6,22 
-4,57 
5,42  
;

data want;
   set have;
   numval = input(value, commax8.2);
run;

[Astounding]

Depending on what your data might contain, a slight change could be in order.  Compare these results:

data have;
input VALUE $;
datalines;
-28 
2,68  
-6,22 
-4,57 
5  
;

data want;
   set have;
   numval1 = input(value, commax8.2);
   numval2 = input(value, commax8.);
run;