Date:         Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:43:02 -0600
Reply-To:     Joe Matise <snoopy369@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Joe Matise <snoopy369@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: what is the main purpose of informat?
Comments: To: Nickname unavailable <adac1121@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <80380b7e-c023-4aac-9b7e-eb923c4c6041@t23g2000yqt.googlegroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Data assignment:

Variable X has a 'format' which affects how it is displayed, and an
'informat' which affects how data is placed into it.

IE:

(data) -> (INFORMAT) -> X  -> (FORMAT) -> display

FORMAT will shorten the displayed width of a column.  LENGTH will shorten
the actual stored width, that's what it sounds like you should be using.

-Joe

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 9:48 AM, Nickname unavailable <adac1121@gmail.com>wrote:

> I'd like to know what is the purpose of using informat.
> I tried read in foxtv $ and rating and trim the input data to the
> smaller width ;
> using informat foxtv $5. rating 1;
> the listing of the proc print still shows $7 for foxtv and 3. for
> rating as the actual data was.
> I used the put funation then worked fine to trim the input data.
> Thanks!
>