Use an array.
See an example here:
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/basess/58133/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a001371428.htm
Something like this?
data have;
input Acct $ (col1-col3) ($);
cards;
ABC 45 375 89756
TFA 609 8320 835
FGT 5907 561 413
;
run;
data want;
set have;
array cols {*} col1-col3;
array newphone {*} $ newphone1-newphone3;
do i = 1 to 3;
newphone{i} = cats(put(length(cols{i}),z2.),cols{i});
end;
drop i;
run;
Some questions. Firstly, why are you trying to do this using text numbers? Numeric data types are there for a reason. Secondly, what is the reasoning behind this, newphone would end up looking like:
0245
03609
045907
Which doesn't really make sense to me. What is col1-col3, it looks from the var name newphone, to be a number, but catting on an 02/03 etc. wouldn't make the result a number. I mean you "could" do:
data have;
input Acct $ col1 $ col2 $ col3 $;
datalines;
ABC 45 375 89756
TFA 609 8320 835
FGT 5907 561 413
;
run;
data want;
length newphone $20;
set have;
newphone=cats("0",put(lengthn(col1),best.),col1);
run;
But why?
April 27 – 30 | Gaylord Texan | Grapevine, Texas
Walk in ready to learn. Walk out ready to deliver. This is the data and AI conference you can't afford to miss.
Register now and save with the early bird rate—just $795!
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.
Ready to level-up your skills? Choose your own adventure.