What are the numeric formats in SAS?
SAS uses two types of numeric formats, one is informat, and another is output format. Where an informat is a specification of how SAS should read data, and an output format is a layout specification of how a variable should be displayed in the output. There are many internal informats and output formats in SAS.
How do I format a number in SAS?
In the below table, numeric data 12345.66 is demonstrated how to allocate digits and decimal in the SAS system using 8.2 formats….Reading SAS Numeric Format.
| n. | Maximum “n” number of columns with no decimal point. |
|---|---|
| COMMAn.p | Maximum “n” number of columns with “p” decimal places which removes any comma or dollar signs. |
What is SAS data format?
You use a FORMAT statement in the DATA step to permanently associate a format with a variable. SAS changes the descriptor information of the SAS data set that contains the variable. You can use a FORMAT statement in some PROC steps, but the rules are different. For more information, see Base SAS Procedures Guide.
What does 8 mean in SAS?
It means to read the first 8 characters as a number. If there is a decimal point in the data then it is used naturally. You could have up to 7 digits to the right of the decimal point (since the decimal point would use up the eighth character position).
What are formats and Informats in SAS?
Informats is used to tell SAS how to read a variable whereas Formats is used to tell SAS how to display or write values of a variable. Informats is basically used when you read in sample data which is being created using CARDS/DATALINES statement or read or import data from either an external file (Text/Excel/CSV).
What are SAS formats and Informats?
What does BEST12 mean in SAS?
refers to the instructions that SAS uses when printing variable values. If no format is specified, the default format is BEST12. refers to the instructions that SAS uses when reading data values. If no informat is specified, the default informat is w.d for a numeric variable, and $w. for a character variable.
What is retain in SAS?
The RETAIN statement simply copies retaining values by telling the SAS not to reset the variables to missing at the beginning of each iteration of the DATA step. If you would not use retain statement then SAS would return missing at the beginning of each iteration. The retain statement keeps the value once assigned.
What is difference between informat and format?
Informats tell SAS how to read data, while formats tell SAS how to write (or print) data. This tutorial shows how to use informats and formats to correctly read in data, as well as change how printed data is displayed to the user.
What is the number format in SAS?
There are two components in a SAS numeric format. The number of columns (width) v of the output and the number of decimal places. The SAS system uses floating-point representation referred to us as W.D, where W is the width and D is the number of digits to the right of the decimal place.
How do you format variables in SAS?
The general form of a format statement is: FORMAT variable-name FORMAT-NAME.; Here the first word ( FORMAT) is the SAS keyword that tells it to assign a format to a variable. The second word is the name of the variable you want to assign to a format. Finally, type the name of the format followed by a period and a semicolon.
SAS data set format is an internal data set representation used by InfoSphere® DataStage ® to move data into or out of a parallel SAS interface operator. When data is being moved into or out of a parallel SAS interface operator, the data must be in a format that allows InfoSphere DataStage to partition it to multiple processing nodes.
What is SAS date format?
A SAS format is an instruction that converts the internal numerical value of a SAS variable to a character string that can be printed or displayed. Date formats convert SAS date values to a readable form; datetime formats convert SAS datetime values to a readable form.