Date:         Sat, 23 May 2009 05:17:12 +0800
Reply-To:     Huijuan Meng <huijuan_meng@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Huijuan Meng <huijuan_meng@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Convert numeric to character,
              but don't know the length of the numeric variable.
Comments: To: mterjeson@russell.com
In-Reply-To:  <16FD64291482A34F995D2AF14A5C932C07437DFF@MAIL002.prod.ds.russell.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

Thank you so much for your help, sorry I did not explain my question more specific.

 

Here is my situation:

 

I have a dataset which contain, say, 1100 variables, 

I run some analysis with this data, based on the results, I need to delete certain variables, 

Then I need to find the number of the rest of the variables, it can be >=1000, or < 1000,

Finally, I need to write a text file which referring to this number a couple of times, and I don't want any space between this number and other words in the text file.

 

 

Now I have a global macro variable: 

 

%global c1n;

 

In my macro, I have 

 

data t1;

dsid = open ("mydata");

c1n0 = attrn (dsid,'nobs');

c1n=put(c1n0,4.0);

run;

 

proc sql noprint;

select c1n into :c1n from t1;

quit;

 

data textfile; 

file "C:\textfile.txt";

@1 ">INAmes = (Q1(1)Q" "&c1n." ");"/

@1 ">INUmber = (1(1)" "&c1n." ");"/

;

RUN;

 

So if c1n=999, I want my text file looks like:

 

>INAmes = (Q1(1)Q999);

>INUmber = (1(1)999);

 

 

Instead of 

>INAmes = (Q1(1)Q 999);

>INUmber = (1(1) 999 );


I hope that makes sense.  

 

Thanks a lot.

 

Huijuan Meng 



 

> Subject: RE: Convert numeric to character, but don't know the length of the numeric variable.
> Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 13:56:54 -0700
> From: Mterjeson@russell.com
> To: huijuan_meng@HOTMAIL.COM; SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> 
> Hi Huijuan Meng,
> 
> Yes, that can be done. 
> How we (SAS-L providing solutions) 
> and you (needing the desired output)
> achieve that is going to vary unless
> we fine-tune the criteria of your
> actual need.
> 
> Your description sounds reasonable if
> you only have one observation you are
> dealing with. More common in SAS we
> have more than one observation. i.e.
> if we determine that the length for
> the variable's value for row 1 is 3
> for your value of 156, does that mean
> that all of the rest of the observations
> for that variable are also going to be
> 3 digits no less and no more? You can
> see why we would ask that. In light of
> that type of complication, I am wondering
> if the length of the storage string really
> needs to handle the largest length for the
> storage aspect and then you usage/need of
> how you want to use the value later may
> be of much more importance. Yes, the 
> trailing part of a string variable will
> be padded with spaces. If your need to
> have it only be 3 characters for the value
> of 156 is due to a display requirement or
> a concatenation task into another string
> result, then it is more common to deal with
> the different length issue at that time.
> e.g. you have
> obs 1 may have var = '1560'
> obs 2 may have var = '156 '
> 
> To display only the valid digits, or to
> concatenate into another string without
> the trailing space character, the solution
> is the same
> 
> trim(var)
> or
> trim(left(var))
> or
> compress(var)
> 
> will yield '1560' and '156' when rendered,
> even though the storage still remains as
> obs 1 may have var = '1560'
> obs 2 may have var = '156 '
> 
> 
> You can find the length in various ways
> such as
> 
> data _null_;
> x = 156;
> len_of_x = length(trim(left(put(x,best.))));
> put _all_;
> run;
> 
> but I am not sure that's really the direction
> your better-addressed-issue would take you.
> 
> 
> 
> So the real question is, do you really need the
> storage for all rows for that variable set to a
> specified length and ALL values in the ALL rows 
> will be exactling the same length of characters? 
> Or do all your rows for that variable need enough 
> storage to contain all the possible values and 
> you just need to work with the exact length when 
> working with each unique content value? These
> would be handled differently.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope this is helpful.
> 
> 
> Mark Terjeson
> Investment Business Intelligence
> Investment Management & Research
> Russell Investments
> 253-439-2367
> 
> 
> Russell
> Global Leaders in Multi-Manager Investing
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Huijuan Meng
> Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 1:32 PM
> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Convert numeric to character, but don't know the length of the
> numeric variable.
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I want to convert a numeric variable (e.g., 1560) to a character
> variable, I can use put (num,4.0) to nake a $4 variable, but if I have
> 156, that would create an extra space in the character variable, is
> there anyway that I can use to find the number of digit in the numeric
> variable and convert it using corresponding format?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
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