Date:         Tue, 4 Jun 1996 02:57:33 -0400
Reply-To:     Tom Abernathy <tga1@COLUMBIA.EDU>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Tom Abernathy <tga1@COLUMBIA.EDU>
Organization: Columbia University
Subject:      Re: EBCDIC to ASCII PROBLEMS
In-Reply-To:  <1B33BD90.1322@inet.spri.sp.com>

I have had problems in converting with the source code.
In particular the NOT symbol which in EBCDIC looks like
an overbar with a tail on the right end.  SAS likes to use
the caret symbol for NOT on ASCII machines. (Isn't there a
obscure option to change this?)  I now code without using
this symbol (I am forced to be bi-lingual (EBCDIC and ASCII))
by using the word NOT and NE for Not Equal.
 
Some people have problems with the concatenation symbol,
although so far I haven't. This is usually the vertical bar.
In ASCII there is only one and it usually is displayed with
a break in the middle. In EBCDIC that are two that our terminals
display and the shorter one is the concate symbol.
 
I have also had problems with the square ([]) and curely ({})
brackets.  But since SAS doesn't really need these (unless you
use IML) I normally avoid them. The manual will display the syntax
for the ARRAY statement using the curely brackets, but you can just
as easily (easier if your like me and already know how to type a
parenthesis and have to look around for those strange ones) use the
regular parenthesis.
 
- Tom Abernathy (tga1@columbia.edu)