I have a list of lab values in a character variable, and I need to store all the numeric values in a numeric variable. I thought I had it made when I found the NOTDIGIT() function. That works great for integer data, but then I realized that I am dealing with decimal and negative values. Is there a way to detect just these characters? I know I could just use INPUT(). That would convert any number-like value to numeric, but for all the character values, I would be left with a lot of ugly notes filling up my log (NOTE: Invalid argument to function INPUT at line XXX column YYY.).
I have some example data below. Is there away to get LABVAL to the NUMLAB and CHARLAB, respectively, as I have them?
LABVAL | NUMLAB | CHARLAB |
7 | 7 | |
NEG | NEG | |
-3 | -3 | |
+ | + | |
2-4 | 2-4 | |
1.5 | 1.5 | |
2+ | 2+ | |
98.6 | 98.6 | |
12.773 | 12.773 | |
YELLOW | YELLOW | |
< 2.5 | < 2.5 |
The easiest way would be to suppress all the usgly messages about invalid data:
numlab = input(labval, ??12.);
The easiest way would be to suppress all the usgly messages about invalid data:
numlab = input(labval, ??12.);
I was never aware of the ? and ?? format modifier until now. Thank you so much!
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