Date:         Fri, 4 Nov 2005 01:57:14 -0800
Reply-To:     asbjorn.westvik@BROCONSULTING.NO
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         asbjorn.westvik@BROCONSULTING.NO
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Subject:      free format with missing fields
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi,

Im reading base sas and I see that you can use blank as a delimiter
while you at the same time have it in text using the &, to read the
following data:

Los Angeles  California  USA

using this sas command:

length City $ 12 State $ 10;
input City $ & State $ Country $;

The only requirement is that you use 2 blanks at the end of each value.

My question is, if you want to use blank as shown above (both as a
delimiter and embedded blanks) can you also cope with missing fields or
do you have to use another delimiter such as , in this example:

Los Angeles,California,Usa
Phoenix,,Usa

(To be honest i dont see the point of using & at all, when you can just
use another symbol not in the text as a delimiter, but the information
might be useful for the certification exam)

Many thanks,
Åsbjørn