Date:         Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:03:28 +0000
Reply-To:     toby dunn <tobydunn@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         toby dunn <tobydunn@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Extract only numeric values from an alphanumeric column
Comments: To: darth.pathos@gmail.com
In-Reply-To:  <CAAEgM6k0Xy6-MEROMKU0V3_mASecW==_g+E=5C2GEv6U5moJMg@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

?? is a designed hack to suppress the error message and the _error_ from being set to 1 that will be issued when the Input function tries to convert a character value....  In short some shops will accept its use and others like mine wont.  
 
^missing = not missing.... the ^ means 'not'
 


Toby Dunn 


If you get thrown from a horse, you have to get up and get back on, unless you landed on a cactus; then you have to roll around and scream in pain.
 
“Any idiot can face a crisis—it’s day to day living that wears you out”
~ Anton Chekhov

 

> Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:59:03 -0400
> From: darth.pathos@GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: Extract only numeric values from an alphanumeric column
> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> 
> Hi Mike,
> 
> Thanks so much, that works perfectly!!
> 
> Could you explain the purpose of the "??" and the "^missing"? I've never
> seen those and always like to have as complete an understanding as possible.
> 
> Thanks again for your time
> Chris
> 
> On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 8:43 AM, Zdeb, Michael S <mzdeb@albany.edu> wrote:
> 
> > hi ... 1.0 is valid numeric data bit would get flagged by NONDIGIT because
> > of the decimal point
> > (as is 1e3, etc. and other forms of numbers acceptable to SAS)
> >
> > data x;
> > input result : $10. @@;
> > datalines;
> > 1.0 32 >1000 NEG . 123 1e3
> > ;
> >
> > data _null_;
> > set x;
> > if notdigit(strip(result)) then put result=;
> > run;
> >
> > LOG ...
> > result=1.0
> > result=>1000
> > result=NEG
> > result=1e3
> >
> > so how about ...
> >
> > data y;
> > set x;
> > num = input(result, ?? 10.);
> > if ^missing(num);
> > drop result;
> > run;
> >
> > and if commas are OK (also flagged by NONDIGIT) ...
> >
> > data x;
> > input result : $10. @@;
> > datalines;
> > 1.0 32 >1000 NEG . 123 1e3 2,000
> > ;
> >
> > data y;
> > set x;
> > num = input(result, ?? comma10.);
> > if ^missing(num);
> > drop result;
> > run;
> >
> >
> >
> > Mike Zdeb
> > U@Albany School of Public Health
> > One University Place (Room 119)
> > Rensselaer, New York 12144-3456
> > P/518-402-6479 F/630-604-1475
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: SAS(r) Discussion [SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Christopher
> > Battiston [darth.pathos@GMAIL.COM]
> > Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 8:06 AM
> > To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Extract only numeric values from an alphanumeric column
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I have a Labs result table where the "Results" column has all sorts of data
> > (POS, <3, 1+, etc.). I would like to somehow extract only the numeric data
> > so I can graph the results but I'm not entirely sure how. I was hoping
> > that I could use if the first character was a number or a decimal, but that
> > doesn't work because I have results like the 1+ in the examples, and then
> > others like .3a (which I believe is a typo but data quality is a challenge
> > left for another day).
> >
> > I could use PROC SQL to do a "NOT LIKE '%a%" for all the letters and
> > characters but that is just ridiculous. I went to Cody's Data Cleaning
> > Techniques (rapidly becoming one of my most used books in my SAS
> > collection) and found the NOTDIGIT function.
> >
> > I created a table in WORK using PROC SQL (I want only this year's data) and
> > had set my DATA step as
> >
> > data _null_;
> > set work.lab;
> > file print;
> > if notdigit(trim(result)) and not missing(result)
> > then put result= result_date=;
> > run;
> >
> > The problem is that it returns what appears to be my complete dataset (1.0,
> > 32, >1000, NEG, etc. etc.). So, what am I missing? What I'm thinking is
> > creating a data set with the results from the DATA step, and then delete
> > those results from WORK.LAB.
> >
> > Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> > Chris
> >