Date:         Fri, 6 Aug 2004 14:02:58 -0700
Reply-To:     "Choate, Paul@DDS" <pchoate@DDS.CA.GOV>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Choate, Paul@DDS" <pchoate@DDS.CA.GOV>
Subject:      Re: A variable name with a space
Comments: To: Jack Hamilton <JackHamilton@FIRSTHEALTH.COM>

They are allowed in DBMS access library dataset names.  In Excel apparently
you can't create a sheet with spaces in its name (they are replaced by
underscores if you try), but you can open a sheet with them.

Paul Choate
DDS Data Extraction
(916) 654-2160

-----Original Message-----
From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jack
Hamilton
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 10:30 AM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: A variable name with a space

Interestingly, it appears that

   data 'd:\temp\longdatasetname';

is valid but that

   data 'd:\temp\long data set name';

is not.  So maybe spaces are not allowed in data set names, only in
variable names.




--
JackHamilton@FirstHealth.com
Manager, Technical Development
Metrics Department, First Health
West Sacramento, California USA

>>> "Fehd, Ronald J. (PHPPO)" <RJF2@CDC.GOV> 07/30/2004 7:23 AM >>>
> From: David Fickbohm

> People,
> My user wants a variable name to have a space ie first name.   My
> understanding is that SAS can not do this.  Am I correct?
>
> The final objective is to export the file to excel and save
> it as CSV.  So I can do it there, though it will be some
> work.  But a good challenge.

RTFM: Expressions: SAS Constants in Expressions

Characters That Cause Misinterpretation
When Following a Character Constant Characters
that follow a character constant
Possible interpretation Examples

b  bit testing constant '00100000'b
d  date constant        '01jan04'd
dt datetime constant    '18jan2005:9:27:05am'dt
n  name literal         'My Table'n
t  time constant        '9:25:19pm't
x  hexadecimal notation '534153'x

I could have sworn that I saw this construct at some SUGI:

data ' Leading Spaces in Name'n;

but this fails to compute in v9.1

happy RTFM reading

Ron Fehd  the macro maven  CDC Atlanta GA USA RJF2@cdc.gov

RTFM: I'm an engineer, I don't get paid to know,
      I get paid to know where to look it up.
RTFM: Read The Finite Manual.

and of course, the Question is really
   Which Manual,
or Which Year
or Which Version?