Date:         Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:53:24 -0500
Reply-To:     Arthur Tabachneck <art297@NETSCAPE.NET>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Arthur Tabachneck <art297@NETSCAPE.NET>
Subject:      Re: Changing Variable Names en masse
Comments: To: "Kirby, Ted" <ted.kirby@LEWIN.COM>

Ted,

How about something like:

data have1;
  input a b c;
  cards;
1 2 3
;

data have2;
  input a b c;
  cards;
4 5 6
;

proc sql noprint;
  select trim(name)||"=first_"||name,
         trim(name)||"=second_"||name
    into :first separated by " ",
         :second separated by " "
      from dictionary.columns
        where libname eq "WORK"
          and memname eq "HAVE1";
quit;

data want1 (rename=(&first.));
  set have1;
run;

data want2 (rename=(&second.));
  set have2;
run;

HTH,
Art
---------
On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:25:34 -0500, Kirby, Ted <ted.kirby@LEWIN.COM> wrote:

>Thanks to Jack, Mike and oloolo for your responses.  For simplicity's
>sake, I had listed the variables as Var1 to Var50, however, the actual
>variable names are quite different.  Thus the listing of the variables
>as Var1-Var50 will not work.  To use the array-based solutions, I would
>still have to type the 50 variable names with and without the prefixes
>and it was that typing of 150 variable names I was trying to avoid.
>
>
>
>I was hoping for something that would read the variable names and
>programmatically add the new prefixes to them such the following attempt
>at pseudo-code.
>
>
>
>Data first;
>
><get first variable name>
>
><add the prefix "First" to the variable name>
>
><get the next variable name>
>
><add the prefix "First" to the variable name>
>
>Etc. down to
>
><Get 50th variable name>
>
><add the prefix "First" to the variable name>
>
>Run;
>
>
>
>Data second;
>
><get first variable name>
>
><add the prefix "Second" to the variable name>
>
><get the next variable name>
>
><add the prefix "Second" to the variable name>
>
>Etc. down to
>
><Get 50th variable name>
>
><add the prefix "Second" to the variable name>
>
>Run;
>
>
>
><merge "First" and "Second" datasets as in my original code>
>
>
>
>(oloolo:  I was able to read only the first few pages of your paper from
>the link you provided, so I am not sure whether the program in your
>paper did this.)
>
>
>
>From: Kirby, Ted
>Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:53 AM
>To: 'SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU'
>Subject: Changing Variable Names en masse
>
>
>
>I have a dataset of hospital discharges with several dozen variables.  I
>have identified pairs of consecutive observations that I would like into
>one very long "episode of care" observation.  To do that, I need to
>differentiate the variable names in the two halves of the episode.  Is
>there a way to do that en masse?  The following illustrates what I would
>like to do.
>
>
>
>Have:
>
>BeneID            EpisodeNumber           Var1 Var2 . . . Var50
>
>a                                  1                      <50 values>
>
>a                                  1                      <50 values>
>
>b                                  1                      <50 values>
>
>b                                  1                      <50 values>
>
>b                                  2                      <50 values>
>
>b                                  2                      <50 values>
>
>Etc.
>
>
>
>Want:
>
>BeneID            EpisodeNumber           FirstVar1 FirstVar2 . . .
>FirstVar50 SecondVar1 SecondVar2 . . . SecondVar50
>
>1                                  1                      <100 values>
>
>2                                  1                      <100 values>
>
>2                                  2                      <100 values>
>
>
>
>I had thought to separate the two parts of the Episode into two
>databases, renaming the variables, then merging them back together by
>BeneID and EpisodeNumber.  I would like to be able to rename all the
>variables without using 100 RENAME entries as illustrated below.
>
>
>
>Data FirstHalf SecondHalf;
>
>Set have;
>
>By BeneID EpisodeNumber;
>
>If first.BeneID or first.EpisodeNumber then output FirstHalf;
>
>else output SecondHalf;
>
>Run;
>
>
>
>Data FirstHalf;
>
>Set FirstHalf;
>
>Rename Var1=FirstVar1
>
>              Var2=FirstVar2
>
>                        .
>
>                        .
>
>                        .
>
>              Var50=FirstVar50;
>
>Run;
>
>
>
>Proc sort; data=FirstHalf; by BeneID EpisodeNumber; run;
>
>
>
><similar code for SecondHalf renaming Var1 - Var50 as  SecondVar1 -
>SecondVar50 and sorting>
>
>
>
>Data episodes;
>
>Merge FirstHalf SecondHalf;
>
>By BeneID EpisodeNumber;
>
>Run;
>
>
>
>Thanks for any assistance you can render.
>
>
>
>
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