Date:         Tue, 26 May 2009 03:25:18 -0700
Reply-To:     Ferret76 <sfitzpatrick76@GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Ferret76 <sfitzpatrick76@GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Subject:      Variable Lengths
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I run reports from a central dataset (I'll call it 'data_main' for the
purposes of my query) which contains a variable client, which is set
as: numeric, length 5, transcode No (in table properties).
The client numbers contained within this column are between 4 & 7
characters long, but will soon be extended to 9. I am trying to see if
these new client numbers will fit wihout altering the length of this
variable.
In testing, I entered a client number 999999999. The log showed no
errors but the new table displayed 999999998.
When I enter 987654321 the number comes out 987654320. Yet when the
client is entered as 999999998, SAS returns the same number.
Does anyone know why this is or what could be causing the
inconsistency?