Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 06:16:45 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Groeneveld <jim1stat@YAHOO.CO.UK>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Jim Groeneveld <jim1stat@YAHOO.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: length of id
Hi Dirk,
You do not need to define the length of the variable, but (to associate)
the appropriate format. Your value may get as high as 190,000,000, so a
format might be: 9. or BEST9. (incl. the period). But as these numbers are
only identification codes and have no meaning and will not be used in
calculations I prefer ID's to be of character type, just text, even if
consisting of only digits.
Regards - Jim.
--
Y. (Jim) Groeneveld, MSc., Biostatistician, Vitatron b.v., NL
Jim.Groeneveld_AT_Vitatron.com (replace _AT_ by AT sign)
http://www.vitatron.com, http://home.hccnet.nl/jim.groeneveld
My computer regards me as its master, but I seem to be its slave.
[common disclaimer]
On Fri, 2 Dec 2005 10:45:03 Z, Dirk Nachbar <Dirk.Nachbar@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK>
wrote:
>Dear all
>
>I am merging 12 tables by a PID. Now this variable can be as high as
1.9E8. The
>SAS log reports the following error.
>
>At least one W.D format was too small for the number to be printed. The
decimal
>may be
> shifted by the "BEST" format.
>
>I tried to define the length of PID in the merge-data-step, but SAS won't
have
>it.. What should I do?
>
>
>Dirk Nachbar
>Assistant Economist
>Pensim2
>Department for Work and Pensions
>Level 4, The Adelphi
>1-11 John Adam St
>WC2N 6HT London
>020 796 28531
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