Hi again Max,

%eval does not know that non-integers are numbers. It thinks they are character strings.

So when you ask for %eval(10.1+2), %eval things you are trying to add two character strings and give you an error because it knows you can't add character strings.

82 %put %eval(10.1+2); ERROR: A character operand was found in the %EVAL function or %IF condition where a numeric operand is required. The condition was: 10.1+2

However, %eval is happy to *compare* two character strings:

70 %put %eval(b>a); 1

So when you ask %eval to compare 10.1 and 2, it sees 10.1 as a character, and says "oh, Max wants me to compare the character string 10.1 to the character string 2, I can do that", which is why it happily does the comparison, and returns a 0 because the character string 10.1 is not greater than the character string 2.

73 %put %eval(10.1>2); 0

Kind Regards, --Quentin

On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 8:44 PM, bbser 2009 <bbser2009@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi there, > > Just a quick question. > It was that non-integers should not occur in %eval(). > But why does the first one below result in an error message in the log while > the second one not? > > %put %eval(10.1+2); > %put %eval(10.1>2); > > Thank you for commenting. > > Regards, Max > (Maaxx) >