Date:         Thu, 15 Mar 2001 15:03:09 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Brittain <zqr0@CDC.GOV>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Jim Brittain <zqr0@CDC.GOV>
Subject:      Re: Adding Prefix to Variable Names

I see there are already a few approaches to doing this but how about
another since I already started writing it.

1.  Proc Contents with the Out= option to get a list of all of the variable
names.
2.  Write a temp file with a long Rename statement.
3.  Set the TEMP dataset into itself and use %INCLUDE to add in you dynamic
code that was just created.


%MACRO prefix_vars (prefix) ;

  proc contents data=mydata
                out =varlist noprint ;
  run ;

  filename rncode temp ;

  data _null_ ;
    file rncode ;
    set varlist (keep=name)
        end=last ;
      if (_N_=1) then
        put "  rename " name "= &prefix" name ;
   else
     put "         " name "= &prefix" name ;
   if (last) then
     put "         " name "= &prefix" name /
            "         ;"
            ;
  run ;

  data mydata ;
    set mydata ;
      %INCLUDE rncode /source2 ;
  run ;

%MEND prefix_vars ;

%PREFIX_VARS (CA_) ;

proc contents data=mydata ;
run ;

The data _null_ Rename step could be replaced by a series of Rename
statements instead to shorten your Macro.
ie.

  data _null_ ;
    file rncode ;
    set varlist (keep=name) ;
      if (_N_=1) then
        put "  rename " name "= &prefix" name ";" ;
  run ;


Happy SASing,
   Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Gale [mailto:ouisc@YAHOO.COM]
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 9:56 AM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Adding Prefix to Variable Names


Good morning,

I am working on a data set containing hundreds of observations as well as
hundreds of variables.  My ultimate goal is to add three characters, "CA_"
as a prefix to all my variable names.

My plan has been to use PROC TRANSPOSE to create the variable _NAME_, which
I'm able to manipulate, and then PROC TRANSPOSE everything back producing
the new manipulated variable names.  But I've run into a simple problem
here.  I'd have to VAR the entire list of variables so that character
variables are also transposed.

Is there an easier way to accomplish this task other than PROC TRANSPOSE?
And if not, is there an easy way to produce a list of variable names that
would be easy to cut and paste into a VAR statement?

Craig Gale
Biostatistician
Marshfield Clinic
Marshfield, Wisconsin