Date:         Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:14:26 -0500
Reply-To:     Mary <mlhoward@avalon.net>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Mary <mlhoward@AVALON.NET>
Subject:      Re: format issue: read CSV file into SAS
Comments: To: Tina MayIAsk <tinaask@GMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

I don't get that when I use your data- I ran this:

data substitution1;

length var1 var2 var3 var4 $12;

infile "C:\TEMP\testfile.csv" dsd truncover;

input var1 $ var2 $ var3 $ var4 $;

run;

proc print data=substitution1;

run;



I would suggest opening up the file in Notepad and taking a look at it; it sounds like there's something in there; it is not a straight text file.    You might be able to do a find and replace by selecting the "funny" character.  

-Mary

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tina MayIAsk 
  To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 4:59 PM
  Subject: format issue: read CSV file into SAS


  Hi,



  I have a CSV file which I saved from a result generated by Transact-SQL. It
  looks all right. But when I imported it into SAS, all these columns turned
  out to have a wired looking. I tried both proc import and data step, and
  have the same issue.



  Here is an example.



  This is the CSV file.



  24822326,54020     ,59016     ,1.0000

  24842915,64106     ,65010     ,1.0000

  24840873,54040     ,58042     ,5.0000

  24843485,64007     ,65007     ,2.0000

  24840722,54036     ,59002     ,4.0000

  24843485,64106     ,65010     ,2.0000

  24840878,54027     ,59039     ,2.0000



  Then I ran the following code

  *data* sub.substitution1;

  length var1 var2 var3 var4 $*12*;

  infile "C:\testfile1.CSV" dsd truncover;

  input var1 $ var2 $ var3 $ var4 $;

  *run*;

  *proc* *print* data=sub.substitution1;*run*;



  Here is the result



      var1           var2           var3            var4



  ÿþ2 4 8 2 2      5 4 0 2 0      5 9 0 1 6      1 . 0 0 0 0

   2 4 8 4 2 9     6 4 1 0 6      6 5 0 1 0      1 . 0 0 0 0

   2 4 8 4 0 8     5 4 0 4 0      5 8 0 4 2      5 . 0 0 0 0

   2 4 8 4 3 4     6 4 0 0 7      6 5 0 0 7      2 . 0 0 0 0

   2 4 8 4 0 7     5 4 0 3 6      5 9 0 0 2      4 . 0 0 0 0

   2 4 8 4 3 4     6 4 1 0 6      6 5 0 1 0      2 . 0 0 0 0

   2 4 8 4 0 8     5 4 0 2 7      5 9 0 3 9      2 . 0 0 0 0



  I opened SAS dataset; there is a square between each digit for each
  variable. For example the first row of var2 looks like 5□4□0□2□0□. (Not sure
  if the square symbol will show up in this eamil, but anyway there is a
  square between these numbers). I checked the attribute of the column, it is
  $12.



  Does anyone know how to get rid of these squares and make all these columns
  truly $12.?



  Thank you very much.



  Tina