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clqa
Calcite | Level 5

is 3.0 same as 3. when formatting decimal numbers?

 

does it matter where i put the format statement in the data step?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
ballardw
Super User

Yes generally.

 

No. Though if your code is sloppy you might get some confusion between statements using the variable and the variable type.

Some examples:

data junk;
   x='k';
   format x f3.;
run;

data junk2;
   format x f3.;
   x='k';
run;

This is related to the order a variable is encountered in a data step. The variable type is set the first time it is used or referenced.

 

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1 REPLY 1
ballardw
Super User

Yes generally.

 

No. Though if your code is sloppy you might get some confusion between statements using the variable and the variable type.

Some examples:

data junk;
   x='k';
   format x f3.;
run;

data junk2;
   format x f3.;
   x='k';
run;

This is related to the order a variable is encountered in a data step. The variable type is set the first time it is used or referenced.

 

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