change format form char $28 to numeric

[sasphd]

Hello, 

I want to change the format of a variable to numeric

the actual format and informat is $28.

[sasphd]

Hello, 

I want to change the format of a variable to numeric

the actual format and informat is $28.

[Kurt_Bremser]

To change the type of a variable, you have to create a new one, convert the value with the INPUT function, drop the old variable, and rename the new one to the name of the old.

[sasphd]

can you please give an example of numeric format

I know that I should write

data want;

set have; 

format var ;

informat var; 

run;

[Kurt_Bremser]

After 160+ posts here, it should be a breeze for you to write the code from my description.

Do that, and if you run into problems, post example data in usable form, and the complete log you got from the code you tried.

[ballardw]

---

@sasphd wrote:

Hello, 

I want to change the format of a variable to numeric

the actual format and informat is $28.

---

Please provide example values.

If a character variable holds 28 digits it can very well run into issues with computer precision when stored as numeric.

The largest integer values that can be stored reliably in SAS are below, first for Z/OS and second for Windows/UNIX flavors. Note that neither of these comes anywhere near 28 characters even with the commas, which are not part of the value.

72,057,594,037,927,936

9,007,199,254,740,992

Are you going to do arithmetic with the values? If not then they should remain character. If you will then you may have significant issues with computation and precision.

[sasphd · Accepted solution]

data IPO_list0;
set IPO_list0;
Asset_alloc_equity_net1 = input(Asset_alloc_equity_net, 8.);
run;

[Kurt_Bremser]

And now you add a little code:

data IPO_list0 (
  drop=Asset_alloc_equity_net
  rename=(Asset_alloc_equity_net1=Asset_alloc_equity_net)
);
set IPO_list0;
Asset_alloc_equity_net1 = input(Asset_alloc_equity_net, 8.);
run;

and you have effectively changed the type of the variable.