Date:         Fri, 4 Aug 2006 16:38:47 -0500
Reply-To:     PuddingDotManAtGmailDotCom@listserv.cc.uga.edu
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Pudding Man <pudding.man@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Logic Function To Return Character Value?
Comments: To: Paul Walker <walker.627@osu.edu>
In-Reply-To:  <200608032210.k73IwAee021883@mailgw.cc.uga.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

I dunno what you're up to here, but if you are running V9,
there might be a good case to be made for the IFC function:

62   data _null_;
63     x = ranuni(0);
64     y = catx(' ', 'The lucky number is', ifc(x > 0.5, 'A', 'B',
'Implausable'));
65     put x= y=;
66    run;

INFO: Character variables have defaulted to a length of 200 at the
places given by:
      (Line):(Column). Truncation may result.
      64:3     y
x=0.1786579137 y=The lucky number is B

Might wanna add a LENGTH statement for Y. IFC/IFN are not
known for performance but with "small data" this is likely
not an issue. CATX is also V9.

  Slainte,
  Puddin'

*****************************************************************
*** Puddin' Man      PuddingDotMan at GmailDotCom  **
*****************************************************************;

On 8/3/06, Paul Walker <walker.627@osu.edu> wrote:
> To return a particular numeric value when a condition is met you can use
> the logic function, e.g.
>
> data _null_;
>  x = ranuni(0);
>  y = 'The lucky number is '||trim(left(7*(x>0.5)+12*(x<0.5)))||'.';
>  put y;
> run;
>
> Half the time this should return 7, half the time 12.
>
> Now, I want to do the same thing, but instead return a character.  The
> analogous code is:
>
> data _null_;
>  x = ranuni(0);
>  y = 'The lucky letter is '||trim(left('A'*(x>0.5)+'B'*(x<0.5)))||'.';
>  put y;
> run;
>
> But obviously this does not work because a character times a number in SAS
> equals missing, e.g. 'A'*1=.
>
> So, does anyone have any trick to achive the above?  I want it to be done
> in one function that can be nested [as in the example] and not use if-then-
> else logic over multiple lines.
>