formatting

[clqa]

is 3.0 same as 3. when formatting decimal numbers?

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

[ballardw · Accepted solution]

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.