Missing value for char

[Ronein]

Hello

As I know in SAS missing value for char is blank and missing value for numeric is period (.)

Why in this example missing value for char is also period (.)?

Why the value of the missing char is blank and not '.' ?

Data a;
Input X $ Y Z W;
cards;
M 56 68 89
F 33 60 .
M 45 91 .
. 35 65 .
;
run; 

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

Because it's not a missing value. When reading character data into character variables, a dot is just a dot.

To correctly read empty data as missing character values, use the proper options in an infile statement, and deliver empty (non-existent) data:

data a;
infile cards dlm=' ' dsd truncover;
input X $ Y Z W;
cards;
M 56 68 89
F 33 60 .
M 45 91 .
 35 65 .
;
run; 

A line starting with a delimiter is now considered to start with a missing value; without the dsd option, the delimiter would be discarded.

The truncover option is necessary to deal with trailing missing values.

[gamotte]

@Kurt_Bremser ,

I think the question concerns the fact that SAS reads the dot for X variable in the last

row of data as a missing value although X is a character variable. In the resulting dataset,

X=" " and not the string ".".

[gamotte]

@Tom gives an answer in the following thread (use the $char informat) :

https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/how-to-read-a-dot-or-fullstop-in-text-file/td-p/24923...

[Kurt_Bremser]

You are right. That is a property of the default $w. informat, as mentioned in the relevant documentation:

The $w. informat trims leading blanks and left-aligns the values before storing the text. In addition, if a field contains only blanks and a single period, $w. converts the period to a blank because it interprets the period as a missing value. The $w. informat treats two or more periods in a field as character data.

[gamotte]

Maxim 1

[Kurt_Bremser]

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@gamotte wrote:

Maxim 1

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<Teal'c>Indeed</Teal'c>