I have following code:
data tmp; pk_consumer_id = 10; bk_consumer_id = '10'; pk_country_id = 'uk'; fk_consumer_id = 10; var_1 = 'a'; var_2 = 'b'; var_3 = 'c'; var_4 = 'd'; var_5 = 'e'; run; data _null_; set tmp; array nums(*) _numeric_; array chars(*) _character_; n_col = dim(nums)+dim(chars); call symput('n_col',n_col); run;
My aim now is to split original file (tmp) into subsets with 2 columns with out knowing the names of variables within tmp (i.e. would like to reference the cols numerically). Is there any easy way how to proceed? Something like:
data want;
set tmp (keep=1:2);
run;
Thanks for your suggestions!
This might be a good application for CALL VNEXT, which allows you to retrieve the name, type, and length progressing from the first to last variable in the PDV.
filename tmp1 temp;
data _null_;
if 0 then set sashelp.class;
length varname $32;
file tmp;
do I=1 to 2;
call vnext(varname);
put varname @;
end;
run;
data want;
set sashelp.class;
keep %include tmp /source2; ;
run;
use varnum in dictionary columns something like shown below. this is untested code
proc sql;
select name :col separated by ' '
from dictionary.columns
where memname = upcase("yourdatset")
and libname =upcase("yourlibname")
and varnum between 1 and 2;/*variables you want want
quit;
data want;
set have( drop = &col);
run;
Not really, it rarely makes sense to split data out. To do something like this you would need to generate either the code as a whole or the keep lists, e.g.
data _null_; length klist $2000; set sashelp.vcolumn (where=(libname="WORK" and memname="HAVE")); retain klist; retain i 1; if mod(varnum,2)=0 then do; klist=catx(" ",klist,name); call execute('data want'||strip(put(i,best.))||"; set have (keep="||strip(klist)||"); run;"); i=i+1; end; else do; klist=catx(" ","pk_consumer_id bk_consumer_id pk_country_id fk_consumer_id",name); end; run;
Change work to your library and memname to your dataset.
You could rename all columns to var1 - varX, but this will lead to hardly readable code. Why do you want to split, at all?
This might be a good application for CALL VNEXT, which allows you to retrieve the name, type, and length progressing from the first to last variable in the PDV.
filename tmp1 temp;
data _null_;
if 0 then set sashelp.class;
length varname $32;
file tmp;
do I=1 to 2;
call vnext(varname);
put varname @;
end;
run;
data want;
set sashelp.class;
keep %include tmp /source2; ;
run;
Are you ready for the spotlight? We're accepting content ideas for SAS Innovate 2025 to be held May 6-9 in Orlando, FL. The call is open until September 25. Read more here about why you should contribute and what is in it for you!
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.