BookmarkSubscribeRSS Feed
Siddhartha
Calcite | Level 5
I am having a library, in that there are five datasets with five variables each and having only one observation.Out of five variables one variable is numeric.
I want the data from all five datasets with a numeric variable.
How can I do this using datastep or a macro without knowing whether a variable is numeric?
Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Sidhu
2 REPLIES 2
data_null__
Jade | Level 19
I don't understand what you want. I will guess.

[pre]
* Example data;
data a1 a3 a4;
retain c1-c4 'Y' n1 1;
run;
data a2 a5;
retain d1-d4 'D' a 2;
run;
* Concatenate numeric variables;
data a;
set
a1(keep=_numeric_)
a2(keep=_numeric_)
a3(keep=_numeric_)
a4(keep=_numeric_)
a5(keep=_numeric_)
;
run;
proc print;
run;
[/pre]
1162
Calcite | Level 5
I just saw data_null_ beat me to it. Anyway . . .

This is an example of how I would do it, but it takes a couple steps. In this example, I create three datasets with different variable formats. After merging these sets, I determine the numeric variables using PROC CONTENTS and PROC SQL and then limit my final dataset to just those variables.

[pre]data a (keep=VarA:) b (keep=VarB:) c (keep=VarC:);
VarA1 = 8; VarA2 = 'Yes'; output a;
VarB1 = 'True'; VarB2 = 256; output b;
VarC1 = 'Positive'; VarC2 = 'Nebraska'; VarC3 = 87.9; output c;
run;

data x;
merge a b c;
run;

proc contents data=x out=contents (keep=name type) noprint;
run;

proc sql noprint;
select name into :varlst separated by ' ' from contents where type = 1;
quit;

data x;
set x;
keep &varlst;
run;
[/pre] Message was edited by: 1162

hackathon24-white-horiz.png

The 2025 SAS Hackathon has begun!

It's finally time to hack! Remember to visit the SAS Hacker's Hub regularly for news and updates.

Latest Updates

How to Concatenate Values

Learn how use the CAT functions in SAS to join values from multiple variables into a single value.

Find more tutorials on the SAS Users YouTube channel.

SAS Training: Just a Click Away

 Ready to level-up your skills? Choose your own adventure.

Browse our catalog!

Discussion stats
  • 2 replies
  • 1390 views
  • 0 likes
  • 3 in conversation