identifying non-numeric values in a numeric variable

[AmirSari]

Hi all,

I have a numeric variable that contains no-numeric and missing values in some cases. I am trying to identify and remove those cases.

data have;

      input  return;

cards;

-0.031250

 0.000000

C

.

0.186340

run;

want:

return

-0.031250

 0.000000

0.186340

I know that when the variable is set to character there are different ways to do that, however when i try to convert the variable to character using the put function, the new variable will contain only zero.

Thanks

[novinosrin]

Plz take a look at notdigit function

if notdigit(variable)=0;

[ChrisNZ]

You question shows a bit of confusion.

A numeric variable cannot contain letters.

To read dirty data, you need to read as a character, then test that it's a valid number then save as a numeric.

Something like:

 data HAVE;
  input RETURNC $;
  RETURN=input(RETURNC,?? dollar32.);
  if RETURN ne .;
cards;
-0.031250
 0.000000
C
.
0.186340
run;

RETURN
-0.03125
0.00000
0.18634

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

---

@AmirSari wrote:

Hi all,

I have a numeric variable that contains no-numeric and missing values in some cases.

---

This is plain impossible, so you are under some kind of misunderstanding of the numeric data type in SAS.

A numeric variable in SAS can only contain numbers or missing values, period. You can define special missing values (apart from .), but they're still missing values.

Non-numeric data can only be stored in character variables.

So go back and review your post

• is it about a SAS dataset or an external file that you want to import into SAS
• if a SAS dataset, run a proc contents and show the type of the variable in question. Also run a proc print of that variable and show values that are puzzling you
• if an external file, post some example lines, and what you want have in the resulting SAS dataset

[AmirSari]

Thanks for your reply. I think I understand the numeric data type in SAS. I am working with an external dataset in which the missing values are displayed both as "." and "C" and that's why I got confused. Thanks for clarification, though.

[Kurt_Bremser]

When reading from an external file, @ChrisNZ has provided the cleanest solution. It reads data as you want it, and the code has no ERRORs or WARNINGs of any kind.