Change a name of variable

[gbatista]

I'm trying to change a name of variable but the variable inside the excel file has spaces and a hyphen (idk if this interferes in anything) and when i'm putting it to assign a new name,a parte of it is in red and i do not can change

photo 1: file in excel replicated with the column name to be changed

photo 2: the code i'm trying to do

photo 3: the error

[gbatista]

photo 3**

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

Post your code as text not images. 

You forgot the RENAME statement for starters. Your code would reassign variables, not rename them. 

Here's how a rename should work. 

data class;
set sashelp.class;
rename sex = gender;
run;

Verify the actual names in your data set using PROC CONTENTS:

proc contents data=class;run;

Make sure to also refer to the name using the name literal format. 

[PaigeMiller]

For large datasets, the DATA step approach using RENAME is incredibly inefficient.

Better: you should get in the habit of using PROC DATASETS if all you want to do is rename a variable.

proc datasets library=work nolist;
    modify yourdatasetname;
    change oldvariablename=newvariablename;
run;
quit;

[Reeza]

There's also a WHERE clause in that code though....

[PaigeMiller]

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@Reeza wrote:
There's also a WHERE clause in that code though....

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I said: "... get in the habit of using PROC DATASETS if all you want to do is rename a variable."

So I think we agree.