data _NULL_ Help

[jaiganesh]

Hello,

Can anybody tell me , What is the pound sign used for in the DATA _NULL_?

Regards,

Jaiganesh

[PGStats]

One place you may find the pound sign (#) in a data step (_null_ or other) is in an input statement, where it is used as a line pointer control.

[jaiganesh]

Could you please provide me a example on this.

[ballardw]

It is not restricted to data _null_ code.

Generally it would refer to a line or record of the file accessible to an input statement.

It interacts with the N= option on an INFILE statement.

[Astounding]

If you are asking the question, there are likely a lot of details that you need to learn first.  Just addressing the question itself ...

In a data _NULL_ step, the pound sign is typically used when the purpose of the DATA step is to generate some sort of text file using PUT statements.  The text file is often a report, but could conceivably be a data file.

The pound sign appears within a PUT statement with a number immediately following.  That number indicates which line number the PUT statement should write to.

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi:
As you can see, the pound sign # can be used in the DATA step (not just a _NULL_) when you are using either INPUT or PUT statements.

What code are you trying to figure out? Where do you see a pound sign? What is the purpose of the program? Since the use of pound sign is possible in different contexts, it's nearly impossible to answer your question without understanding the context that you are dealing with.

Cynthia

[jaiganesh]

Encountered with this question in one Interview, The above question was the exact question asked, If you could just give small program on this with Put would be deeply appreciated, I will take this topic from there.

[jaiganesh]

Could you please give me small example on this.

[Cynthia_sas · Accepted solution]

data _null_;
  file print;
  put @1 'Hello'
      #6 @5 'World!';
run;

produces:

Cynthia

[jaiganesh]

Thank You so much for your Help.