Date:         Tue, 10 Dec 2002 14:34:17 -0500
Reply-To:     Marianne Whitlock <WHITLOM1@WESTAT.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Marianne Whitlock <WHITLOM1@WESTAT.COM>
Subject:      Re: recruiting cheesy, sleasy SAS tricks
Comments: To: "michael@BASSETTCONSULTING.COM" <michael@BASSETTCONSULTING.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I didn't see the earlier thread, but the ATTRIB statement change the length
in the code below:

data a;
  CharVar = "XYZ" ;
run;
proc sql ;
  select length
  from dictionary.columns
  where libname="WORK"
    and upcase(memname) = "A"
    and upcase(name) = "CHARVAR"
  ;
quit;
data b;
  attrib CharVar length= $ 4;
  set a;
  CharVar = "ABCD" ;
run;
proc sql ;
  select length
  from dictionary.columns
  where libname="WORK"
    and upcase(memname) = "B"
    and upcase(name) = "CHARVAR"
  ;
quit;

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael L. Davis [mailto:michael@BASSETTCONSULTING.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 1:56 PM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: recruiting cheesy, sleasy SAS tricks


BTW, thanks to all for the help last week with regards to reordering the
PDV.  Unfortunately, the friend for whom I was trolling wanted as easy a
method as the RETAIN statement.  The ATTRIB statement was to change the
length of a variable brought in by a SET statement.  So combining the RETAIN
and ATTRIB statements did not work (the length was not changed by the ATTRIB
statement).