show for the same variable as numeric or date

[Sir_Highbury]

Dear expert,

after some checks I get a data set with the following structure:

data b;
input type: $12. variable: $12. variable_min;
datalines;
date begin 2000
num price 3000
date end 2500
;run;

How can I show for the same variable (variable_min) in some cases (when type='date') as date and in some cases (when type='num') as numeric?

Thanks in advance, SH.

[Sir_Highbury]

Dear expert,

after some checks I get a data set with the following structure:

data b;
input type: $12. variable: $12. variable_min;
datalines;
date begin 2000
num price 3000
date end 2500
;run;

How can I show for the same variable (variable_min) in some cases (when type='date') as date and in some cases (when type='num') as numeric?

Thanks in advance, SH.

[gamotte]

It depends on what you mean by "show". If you mean display in the log then you can

precise the display format in the put statement :

data b;
	input type: $12. variable: $12. variable_min;

	if type="date" then do;
		put variable_min= date6.;
	end;
	else do;
		put variable_min;
	end;

	datalines;
date begin 2000
num price 3000
date end 2500
	;
run;

[ballardw]

Repeating the question without additional information is not very helpful.

[Sir_Highbury]

of course, sorry I did it by mistake.

[ballardw]

You would have to show the output you want for your example data? Do you want to create a new variable or are attempting to do the desired display in another procedure (unlikely to work).

[RW9 · Accepted solution]

Have a character variable (only character can hol any value):

data b;
  length result $200;
  input type: $12. variable: $12. variable_min;
  select(type);
    when("date") result=put(variable_min,date9.);
    when("num") result=put(variable_min,best.);
    otherwise;
  end;
datalines;
date begin 2000
num price 3000
date end 2500
;
run;

Then put your number data in the correct text format.

[LinusH]

I assume that want to use different SAS format depending on the type variable. This has a question here from time to time, and cannot be done by standard means.
As a storage pattern it's not a favourite of mine, even if some industry data models have this construct.
Either way, the easiest way is to use a CHAR data type.