Specifying character Values as Ranges

[sasmaverick]

Hello, I have the following dataset

data test;
infile datalines;
input Est_inc $3.;
datalines;
008
015
020
040
051
060
061
070
150
;
run;

The values are character but are clean data. I want to specify range as follows, but unsuccesful. Please help.

proc format;
value $ emp;
"008"-"020"="8-20"
"040"-"060"="40-60"
"061"-"150"="61-150"
;
run;

Regards,

[Astounding · Accepted solution]

It looks like you just need to clean up the syntax of your VALUE statement.  

• Remove the space after the dollar sign.  It might work with the space there, but probably not.
• Remove the semicolon after EMP.  The VALUE statement doesn't end until later.

[RW9]

Personally I avoid using formats, but even more so when dealing with numbers as characters.  Would the text "8" be considered between "008" and "024"?  Textually its not.  Is there a reason for the format need?  Why not just convert to numeric and use numeric ranging - makes more sense as your really dealing with numeric data.  Nothing stopping you keeping both, text and num, and using num.