@Ksharp  <So you don't want padding zero before it all the time ?>   I want the padding zero for all values except 101. With a value of 101, I want the subsequent variables to have missing values. This new code does that, but 100 still looks like this:   400201 _4002011 __4002012 _4002013 100 00 01 00   It should be:  400201 _4002011 __4002012 _4002013 100 01 00 00 or missing     There are other combinations besides the character strings I included in the DATALINES statement (e.g. 10000). I apologize for not being more clear at the beginning.  ... View more

@Astounding Thank you for sticking w/ me. I appreciate your efforts to guide me towards figuring it out for myself.  ... View more

@Ksharp Thank you again. We are getting there!   3 questions/issues:   1. The character strings in the original variable are of differing lengths. Ideally, the character string is 6 character long, after the leading 0 is added. So, 400203=10101 would become 010101, which would then become 400203_part1=01, 400203_part2=01, 400203_part3_01. This syntax does that! However, if the string is a different length, like 100, for example. The resutls are as follows.    400201 _4002011 __4002012 _4002013 100 00 01 00   It should be:  400201 _4002011 __4002012 _4002013 100 01 00 00 or missing   2. The other problem is w/ a value of 101 (i.e. Refused to respond). The results are as follows:  400203 _4002031 __4002032 _4002033 101 00 01 01   Here, the 3 resulting variables should probably be sett to missing ("").    3. Where in this syntax can I change the vew variable names? I can't quite figure it out. It would be ideal, to sync w/ the code that follows it, if the names could be _400201_part1, _400201_part2 _400201_part3 as opposed to _4002011, _4002012, _4002013.   Thank you again!!   ... View more

@Astounding <The "part1" and "part2" variables already have missing values so you don't need to set them to missing.>   The array that you offered in the original post parses a character string into 3 substrings of 2 characters each, assuming there are 6 characters in the string. For example, _400803=010101 becomes _400803_part1=01, _400803_part2=01, _400803_part3=01.    If the value of the original variable is 101 (i.e. Refused to answer), then _400803_part1=10, _400803_part2=1, _400803_part3=“”.    <I'm not sure what you want to have happen for the "101" values. >   I’m trying to set the value of  _400803_part1 -  _400803_part3 to missing if the value of  _400803=101. I was attempting to just create a new array that followed your original array in the DATA step. You seem to be suggesting that I can simply plug the logic into the existing array, correct?   The Do loop of the original array is currently as follows: DO i=1 to 54; DO j=1 to 3; new{i,j} = substr(original{i}, 2*j-1); END; END; DROP i j; When I adapt it as follows I get a subscript error (i.e. Too few array subscripts specified for array new.). DO i=1 to 54; if original{i}='101' then do; new {i}=""; end; DO j=1 to 3; new{i,j} = substr(original{i}, 2*j-1); END; END;     new {i,3}=“”; and new {54,3} do not produce errors, but they do not solve the problem.  ... View more

I have a solution that doesn't use an array, but I would need to repeat it 54 times!   IF _400803="101" THEN DO; _400803_part1=""; _400803_part2=""; END;   I don't know how to incorporate this logic into an array that already has a DO loop. A DO loop within a DO loop? How do I include more than one action after the THEN statement?   - Grasshopper ... View more

@Astounding I was hoping I could follow up on this solution. While the syntax works great, I realized that there is one problem: The value for "Refused to respond" is 101. This string gets substringed in to Var1=10, Var2=1, Var3="". This causes problems b/c the values of var 1 and var2 are valid values. Any suggestions on how to handle this?   I thought about adding an array that changes a 101 in the parent variable to "" in the children variables, but I don't really know how to do this. Here's my best guess, but it doesn't work:   ARRAY replace_101(*) $ _400705 _400706 _400707 _400708 _400801 _400802 _400803; ARRAY part1_3 (*) $ _400705_part1 - _400705_part3 _400706_part1 - _400706_part3 _400707_part1 - _400707_part3 _400708_part1 - _400708_part3 _400801_part1 - _400801_part3 _400802_part1 - _400802_part3 _400803_part1 - _400803_part3 DO i=1 to dim(replace_101); IF replace_101(i)="101" THEN part1_3(i)=""; END; DROP i; RUN; ... View more

@Ksharp Thank you for your time and effort here. This code works great, but I should have been more clear. I have 53 variables. My example only included 2 variables. I was just trying to simplify things. The solution you proposed would require creating 53 arrays, correct?   I was hoping I could simply add a leading 0 to the character strings, so that I could use the code/approach I have been using for the other time periods/data sets.   Here is the array I am using already, for all the other datasets, that already have a leading 0 in front of the character strings:   DATA want; * Setting the length of the variables to be 6 characters long; LENGTH _400201 _400202 _400203 _400204 _400205 _400206 _400207 _400208 _400209 _400210 ... Up to 53 variables $6; SET have; ARRAY original {53} _400201 _400202 _400203 _400204 _400205 _400206 _400207 _400208 _400209 _400210 ... Up to 53 variables ; ARRAY new {53,3} $ 2 _400201_part1 - _400201_part3 _400202_part1 - _400202_part3 _400203_part1 - _400203_part3 _400204_part1 - _400204_part3 _400205_part1 - _400205_part3 _400206_part1 - _400206_part3 _400207_part1 - _400207_part3 _400208_part1 - _400208_part3 _400209_part1 - _400209_part3 _400210_part1 - _400210_part3 ... Up to 53 variables ; DO i=1 to 53; DO j=1 to 3; new{i,j} = substr(original{i}, 2*j-1); END; END; DROP i j; RUN;    Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. ... View more

@Ksharp The length already set to 6, no?   The current syntax is changing  10101 to  01010, which then becomes _400802_part1=01, _400802_part2=01, _400802_part3=0. _400802_part3 should equal 01.   Here's the data before the syntax: PatientID _400802 _400802_part1 _400802_part2 _400802_part3 140 10101 10 10 1   Here's the data after the syntax: PatientID _400802 _400802_part1 _400802_part2 _400802_part3 140 01010 01 01 0   I'm sorry I don't understand your syntax well enough to trouble shoot this myself! Thanks again for your help. ... View more

@Reeza If you include a LENGTH statement, and an INFORMAT and FORMAT statements, where do you assign these attributes? Is it the first time the varaible is presented to SAS? For example, if I do not include a certain variable  (e.g. Time) in the LENGTH statement, SAS skips over it and it is absent in a PROC PRINT.   For example:    DATA test1; LENGTH name $10 id 3; INFORMAT time TIME10.; *FORMAT time TIME8.; INPUT time name id; DATALINES; 11:00PM Jamie 211 9:00PM Bob 322 12:30 Ron 333 2:00AM Joe 111 ; RUN;   However, if I include it in the LENGTH statement, as a character variable, and then assign an informat in an INFORMAT statement, the log states: "NOTE 485-185: Informat $TIME was not found or could not be loaded."   DATA test1; LENGTH time $8 name $10 id 3; INFORMAT time TIME10.; *FORMAT time TIME8.; INPUT time name id; DATALINES; 11:00PM Jamie 211 9:00PM Bob 322 12:30 Ron 333 2:00AM Joe 111 ; RUN; What am I doing wrong here? Thanks! ... View more

@FreelanceReinh Use a LENGTH statement to assign length. Got it. If you use a LENGTH statement, you are also assigning the variable type in that statement, correct? So there is no need to also assign it in the INPUT statement. If you don't use a LENGTH statement, you would do assign the variable type in the INPUT statement. Is that correct? ... View more

Also, I'm fairly new to SAS and arrays. What is the purpose of the LENGTH statement (length temp $ 6;) in the array? ... View more

@Ksharp Thanks for this. It does the trick, to some degree.   A value of 10100 is converted to 01010 (i.e. 01 01 0).    How could I adjust this code to produce a 6 digit string? Ideally, 10100 would be converted to 010100.   Also, a value of 10101 is converted to 01010 (i.e. 01 01 0), when it should be 01 01 01.    Thanks again. ... View more

@FriedEgg Thanks for the assistance. A quick clarifying question:   <INPUT var $ @@;>     I'm not familiar with this convention. When do the "@" symbols represent?   Also, I'm using SAS University Edition. I received the following error when I ran this code.   DATA a2_pershealth_destring_qwb_2; SET a2_pershealth_replace_nulls; ARRAY xfr[3] $2 _400803_part1 - _400803_part3; CALL POKELONG( REPEAT('0',5) , ADDRLONG(xfr[1]) , 6 ); CALL POKELONG( var , PTRLONGADD( ADDRLONG(xfr[1]) , 6 - LENGTHN(_400803) ) , LENGTHN(_400803) ); RUN; 1 OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK; 55 56 DATA a2_pershealth_destring_qwb_2; 57 SET a2_pershealth_replace_nulls; 58 59 ARRAY xfr[3] $2 _400803_part1-_400803_part3; 60 61 CALL POKELONG( REPEAT('0',5) , ADDRLONG(xfr[1]) , 6 ); ________ ________ 251 68 ERROR: The function POKELONG cannot be invoked when SAS is in the lockdown state. ERROR: The function ADDRLONG cannot be invoked when SAS is in the lockdown state. ERROR 251-185: The subroutine POKELONG is unknown, or cannot be accessed. Check your spelling. Either it was not found in the path(s) of executable images, or there was incorrect or missing subroutine descriptor information. ERROR 68-185: The function ADDRLONG is unknown, or cannot be accessed. 62 63 CALL POKELONG( var , PTRLONGADD( ADDRLONG(xfr[1]) , 6 - LENGTHN(_400803) ) , LENGTHN(_400803) ); ________ ________ 251 68 ERROR: The function POKELONG cannot be invoked when SAS is in the lockdown state. ERROR: The function ADDRLONG cannot be invoked when SAS is in the lockdown state. ERROR 251-185: The subroutine POKELONG is unknown, or cannot be accessed. Check your spelling. Either it was not found in the path(s) of executable images, or there was incorrect or missing subroutine descriptor information. ERROR 68-185: The function ADDRLONG is unknown, or cannot be accessed. 64 RUN; ... View more

DATA want_1; INPUT var1 $ var2 $; DATALINES; 10101 0 10101 100000 0 10100 10101 0 ; RUN; DATA want_2; SET want_1; ARRAY original {2} Var1 Var2; ARRAY new {2,3} $ 2 var1_part1 - _var1_part3 var2_part1 - _var2_part3; DO i=1 to 2; DO j=1 to 3; new{i,j} = substr(original{i}, 2*j-1); END; DROP i j; RUN; The character string is supposed to be a maximum of 6 characters. The possible values are: 01 or 00 for each two digit pair. So, 010100 would be parsed into 3 new variables. Var1=01, Var2=01, Var3=00.   In this one dataset, there is no leading zero, so the maximum string is 5 characters long. If the array substrings the first 2 characters, it will take 10, instead of 01.    Thanks for your help @FriedEgg ... View more