Easiest way to extract format values from character variable?

[Tpham]

I have a dataset with the question, answer coded in numeric and its categorical value. I have a lot of questions and answer choices, so I prefer not copying and pasting everything.Is there an easier way to create formats based on existing dataset like below?

data have;
input id question $ 5. ansN ansC $ 20.;
cards;
1	Q1	1	Agree
2	Q1	1	Agree
3	Q1	2	Disagree
4	Q1	2	Disagree
5	Q1	3	Refuse to Answer
1	Q2	2	BBBBBBB
2	Q2	1	AAAAAAAA
3	Q2	1	AAAAAAAA
4	Q2	3	CCCCCCCCCCC	
5	Q2	3	CCCCCCCCCCC
;

[PaigeMiller]

Use PROC FORMAT with the CNTLIN= option.

Example: https://documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=pgmsascdc&cdcVersion=9.4_3.4&docsetId=proc&docsetTarget=n1e19y6...

[Tom · Accepted solution]

The only trouble you will have is that you need to make a name for the format that does not end in a digit.

I have seen people just consistently add the letter F to the end of the name from their external metadata to make sure that the name of the format ends in a letter.

proc sort data=have(keep=question ansn arnsc)
   out=codes nodupkey 
;
  by quesiton ansn ansc ;
run;

data cntlin;
  set codes;
  fmtname=cats(question,'F');
  rename ansN = start ansC=label;
  keep fmtname start label;
run;
proc format cntlin=cntlin;
run;