Recoding character variables in sas. Creating new variable and Recoding SAS.

• Recoding character variables in sas Hi everyone, I have a survey dataset. You can run the code below and see the output in your SAS session to see how you need to modify your code. PUTN() and PUTC() (for character values) allow the format to be provided dynamically, as you require in this case. Dear Community , I have tried to convert the value from categorical data to numeric no success. Hot Network Questions Did shevet Levi take the spoils of Egypt, given that they were never slaves? Using SAS 9. One way to convert character variables to numeric values is to determine which values exist, then write a possibly long series of SAS Data Science; Mathematical Optimization, Discrete-Event Simulation, and OR; SAS/IML Software and Matrix Computations; SAS Forecasting and Econometrics; Streaming Analytics; Research and Science from SAS; SAS Viya. ) 25 2 20 2 15 1 Any help welcome Th I’ve tried creating new variables or assigning missing values, trying different data files, and everytime I do anything to alter the data, it leaves me with 0 observations and one or no variables. In this dataset there are multiple misspellings, extra spaces, etc. So the first assignment gets values of 0 because missing is not 0. ); run; then I started to use the approach you suggested: recode values in a character variable based on another character variable's value in sas Recode a Variable SAS/LAB software provides facilities for creating a new variable that is a recoding of an existing variable in the same data set. I was wondering if there is a way to create new variable and re-coding it based on a range of values. With examples of have and want data sets, you can explain the rules / logic of how the Here is an example of one approach. Modified 7 years, 2 months ago. is not converted to a blank value, the dot is remaining there, and i found it very annoying, because pulsechar is not a real character I am new to SAS EG 7. SAS likes the format type to match the type of variable (character or numeric). If the variable is coded as missing SAS will be able to deal with it as missing - which usually means exclude the value. Several methods can be used. ; *applies the format; run; The first assignment was inter="JA", so SAS decides to give the inter variable a length of 2 characters, and whatever you assign to it, only the first 2 characters will be kept. Some of the property records have missing fields like 'prpty_city' and 'prpty_zip'. Hispanic Community. I'm using SAS 9. I want to create a new binary variable of 0 = heart-related causes and 1 = other causes. handle recodes from either numeric or character variables, but cannot change data types. I have recently moved from SAS EG 6. That is, it passes variables F1 through F7 and begins with variable F8 as the first variable to recode. g. Are you wanting a numeric value or are you asking for IF/Then/Else type code to reassign values of the existing variable? I ask because a SAS Format is a typical way to change I need help creating a new binary variable from an existing data set. . Can I incorporate multiple lists in the variable list (e. That is, if CODE has a value of 1 (numeric) it cannot be given a value of “A6037” (character). " then type="adult"; But if TYPE is character then you need to use TYPE=' ' to test for missing. View solution in original post. A two-level categorical variable (like gender) becomes a simple 0-1 recode and then treated as continuous. i have imported the data and its been converted to a SAS data. It acts as a recoding procedure with the rules being the input. If you specify more than one delimiter, then SAS uses any of them; if you omit the delimiter, then Alternatively, another way to solve my problem would be if you could tell me if there is a way of importing SPSS datasets using variable value labels only, and leaving the values themselves out of the picture entirely, such that numeric variables with value labels are imported as character variables. then I convert "film" to character variable by creating film1 variable: data mydata; set mydata; film1 = put(film, 6. 7: Task Reference Guide documentation. PROC Star. without knowing the specifics of the needed data that's about it. There are several ways to recode data using SAS(r) software. Ready to level-up your skills? Welcome to the SAS forum. In your case since the first reference to the new variable Region is in the assignment statement: Region = "West" SAS makes the logical decision to define it as a character variable of length 4. : to recode all the 1's as 2's in the same variable x OR recode y (9=sysmis). ); The following example shows how to Re: How to recode numerical to character variable or match variable values to labels in SAS Studio? The source is the value that you want to examine. In my SAS data set (raw data), I have values like 20,25, and 15,10,0. I can't copy and paste as you are showing pictures and incomplete data step. ] other ='NA' ; run; /* if only for display purposes */ proc print data=df1; format a b c num2char. Getting Started; Community Memo; All Things Community; SAS Customer Recognition Awards (2024) If then else character variable Posted 08-03-2019 11:06 AM (843 views) Hi! I'm using SAS 9. 8: Task Reference Guide documentation. In SPSS, i know we can recode variables easily using following command: recode x (1=2) (else=copy). Copy and paste this code onto the Program tab. Please Help! *Creating new variable based on Letter grade; data Lgrades; set students_additional; if 0<gpa<0. What I have is a multitude of characters from a large dataset. 1 Like 12 REPLIES 12. I have a variable ("medical") with character values that are various medical conditions. PDF EPUB Feedback. The code you have is fine, just add the following statement right before the first if. I am trying to use ARRAY to recode a series character variables VAR1-VAR5 into a series of numeric variables nVAR1-nVAR5 and a series of character variable rVAR1-rVAR5. and 8. You'll need to process or clean the data ahead of time or use the RECODE task to recode them. Code to capture all values of variable: IF ethnicity='Hispanic or Latino' OR ethnicity='Hispanic or Latino' OR ethnicity='Hispanic or Latino' OR ethnicity="HIspanic Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables Posted 10-08-2024 06:51 AM (1690 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. 0 Likes Hello, I am inexperienced in SAS and need some help. Learn how use the CAT functions in SAS to join values from multiple variables into a single value. As you have suggested, it is not always easy to explain what is required in a question. The simple solution using SUBSTR works perfectly. i am trying to convert 0 to NO and 1 to YES for a variable but get fails every time . 4 I am having trouble converting numeric data into character data. Below is my code in SAS Studio . My code: Thank you for your response. Hispanic: 1= Spanish/Hispanic Origin. com. The key point to remember when comparing character values is that SAS distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase letters. " is telling SAS to format this variable as a numeric variable and keep the leading zeroes. With this task, you can specify single values to be recoded as other values of the same type. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get something like the below Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables (1726 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. The last example used a numeric Rather than recoding a variable 3 or 4 times to aggregate the data differently for multiple reports, the original coding can be maintained. And that " z3. Suppose we have the following dataset in SAS that shows the total sales made by some store during 10 consecutive days: But then you try to assign AGECAT="0-19", which is a character string. You need to create a new variable. I'm attempting to associate similar property records with those that are missing these two fields by creating a field named 'prpty_street_bracket'. 4 and I'm trying to I am recoding numeric values to character values. : to make all the 9's in x missing. I am using PROC SQL to extract data from a larger I am using SAS 9. Which brings up the question why do you need to do any such recoding? Why do this work in the first place? The note means that you have used a variable that is character in a fashion reserved for numeric variables. In my work I have about a dozen In places where lists of variables are acceptable you can use _character_ to reference all the character variables. Hi all, I have worked more on SPSS than SAS. 35 will only match on numeric variables. The array will only work for variables of the same type, correct? My character variables are interspersed with my numeric variables. 1 to SAS EG 7. SAS Training: Just a Click Away. 2= Not of Spanish/Hispanic Origin. Updating the Values for a Character Variable. First, we use a CALL SYMPUT DATA step to define MACRO variables. SAS® Studio 3. The user interface for the Recode Values task opens. Find more tutorials on the SAS Users YouTube channel The following code is how I am currently recoding my variables. I would like to recode this variable to have these levels as 1, 2. You can use the put() function in SAS to convert a numeric variable to a character variable. So if your existing variable is named GENDER and has values of 'male' or 'female' you could do something like this to make a new numeric variable named SEX that has values of 1 or 2. Jim. In the column headed 'Upper bound', enter the values (lowest to highest) that should separate one range from the next. The one getting missed is a variation of an Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables Posted 10-08-2024 06:51 AM (1706 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. I would like to format all my character variables that starts with certain characters. Precisely, that invokes heavy macro processor work Can you please recode this variable for me; Married =1 and not married =2. Are the current values "checked" and 'unchecked" or, if not, are the variables character or numeric, and what values represent checked Hi I am new to SAS, so pardon if my question is simple. I dont need to create a new variable in Recode in new variable Posted 12-17-2014 04:19 PM (5567 views) I am trying to Recode 'Cause of Death' (DEATHCAUSE) in two group Cause=1 (Heart Disease) and Cause= 0 (Any other cause). The target is Y with levels 0 and 1, and there are four predictors X1-X4. SAS Viya; SAS Viya on Microsoft Azure; SAS Viya Release Updates; Moving to SAS Viya; SAS Visual Analytics; SAS Visual Analytics The second thing I want to do is recode the 7 variables into 1 variable where the value is the label for variable that is "checked. It may for most purposes be easier just to change the display format when using the variables as Format will accept a list but most of the statements to actually modify the variable property, such as the example Proc SQL code will not. com To recode values in a data set: Specify whether you are recoding values for a numeric or character variable. )); convert a numeric variable to character variable; pulsechar2=pulse; run; The issue i have is: even SAS show me pulsechar as a character variable, the missing value numeric . The rest you compare a text value such as 'baker' to 1. You can also use MISSING(TYPE) to test for missing. How I can combine three variables into a new variable using “OR” function in SAS? For example: I have three variables as “A”, “B”, and “C”. (or the length for character variables) it is not that much harder. id then output; keep start label Notice that when you omit the quotes, y refers to a variable name. This selects unique values of a variable, creates a recode value for each one and then merges the recoded value to the original data set into a new set. We say that SAS is "case-sensitive. The implicit array creates an automatic index variable _i_ in the PDV , however the index variable is I am trying to create a new variable LetterGrade with recoding GPA into alphabets. This will impact your second question where you check whether a variable is equal to delete. I want to have a fourth variable as “ A” or “B”, or “C”. please add this thread into https Hi, I'm working on a sample data set using property information. A clean log is the best practice, so definitely use @SASKiwi's solution, but I think it's good to understand what SAS is going to do if it tries a numeric operation on non-numeric data. ; /*over 30,000 Efficiently recode values to missing Learn how use the CAT functions in SAS to join values from multiple variables into a single value. i successfully recoded my data which we initially o and 1 into white and black, and male and female under the sex and race column but the proc content shows that it is numeric. " is telling SAS that I am inputting a variable with a character informat, and the variable has meaningful leading zeroes (e. The GLMMOD procedure uses a syntax that is identical to the MODEL statement in PROC GLM, so it is very easy to use to create interaction effects. But if you don't define the variable then SAS must make a guess at what you meant by the code that you write. ". 9=Unknown . For example, in one observation "medical"= "Arthritis/Joint Pain,Chronic Pain,Depression,Insomnia or other sleep disorder,Nausea" I want to create a new variable for each medical condition, and have SAS input In places where lists of variables are acceptable you can use _character_ to reference all the character variables. There are a few tricks that are worth noticing. It looks like you are trying to FORMAT your variable, not label it. com SAS® Help Center. You could use a format for recoding and if only required for display (print) purposes then even apply it directly to the numerical variables. Data set ID S1 S2 S3 01 3 6 7 02 4 7 8 03 5 9 4 ID Time Score You need to assign a length of 2 (that's two characters) to the variable REF_COMP_1st_REC . length REF_COMP_1st_REC $ 2; Otherwise, SAS uses the length of the variable the first time it is assigned, which is one character. Convert Character to Numeric Variable in SAS. You need to create new variables. i am trying to convert to character, but when i run the syntax, it comes out blank as shown in the second picture. Best practice is to insure that data is read from external sources as needed. Assign the variable whose values you want to change to the Variable to recode role. Well-meaning responders offer all sorts of advice, including writing your own DATA step Solved: I need to recode a long list of variables that are named this way (numbered list by month, from first to last): Variable Variable label If you have one or more groups of character variables, you must declare a character variable array also and repeat the whole do loop to deal with the char array. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get something like the below Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables (1753 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. 5 then Recode Individual Values. However, I keep recieving the message saying variable uninitialized. ; So I tried to recode the variable with the following statement: if type=". I tried creating new variables, it Hello Astounding, Thank you for the help, but I don't know why It doesn't work. ; run; /* if storing character variables, the default type is numeric [length] - used to define the length of new variables being Using Arrays – Recoding variables • A SAS data set has ID variable and 3 variables s1, s2, s3 which represents a score at times 1, 2,3. Find more I have a survey dataset. For example, using the attached code, I can recode. Part of this could come from "if B5 = . value C5R . They change the way the variable appears to us humans, and they change the way most SAS PROCs work with the variable. You can easily check that the length of the inter variable is 2. The % character is a trigger to the macro processor (the people that defined SQL and how the LIKE operator works did not take into consideration that SAS uses the % character Download Exams - SAS Programming: Recoding Missing Values, Creating Observations, and Merging Data - Prof. Variable name Label Q3_1 American Indian or Alaska Na I have two datasets, both with same variable names. In many of our datasets, we already have STHA defned numerically (which we can format) but the Macro merges on a character variable Create a format. That is, character values must be specified in the same case in which they appear in the data set. Any subsequent assignments > 1 character (or byte) in CharVar1 will result in truncating the value to 1 character. Specify a A SAS function returns a value from a computation or system manipulation that requires zero or more arguments. 1. You can use shorthand like: array <name> q1-q10. Basically setting all the variables to missing. Try below code: data mydata1; length film $16. To create a new variable by recoding an old one, select 'Modify' and then 'Recode a variable' from the File pull-down menu on the main window. The question is: In a dataset called ATL3 made from ATL2, use a PUT statement to convert the numeric variable Grade to a character variable called GradeChar. Modified 5 years, 9 months ago. Recode Ranges of Values. PROC 3 Display the same variable several ways 4 Perform a table lookup It is much more efficient to recode the data to short character values (Short character values take up less space than standard numeric values), and then use the literals Consider: if you SUM a 1/0 coded variable then the total is the number of observations or variables that were coded 1. Community. Convert multiple variables from char to numeric. SAS is very nice when you have sequentially numbered variables to place in an array. For example, you can use formats to count missing values and to change the order of a categorical variable in a table or plot. 5 then LetterGrade=F; else if 0. Ask Question Asked 7 years, 2 months ago. For numeric variables, you can change the length of the Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables Posted 10-08-2024 06:51 AM (1715 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. Find more tutorials on the SAS Users YouTube channel. SAS Training: Just a Click Away I need to recode a set of 8 variables into a single variable, such that if all 8 are missing then the new variable is missing, but if even one of the variable = '1' then the new variable = '1'; else the new variable = '0'. how to covert a character to numeric variable in SAS. CLASS available. ARRAY is the SAS keyword to declare an array. Muchas Gracias. Example: Convert Character Variable to Numeric in SAS. *create the format; proc format; value age_group low - 13 = 'Pre-Teen' 13 - 15 = 'Teen' 16 - high = 'Adult'; run; title 'Example of an applied format'; proc print data=sashelp. If the character value contains a thousands separator (usually a comma), use the COMMAw. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get PROC REG does not support categorical predictors directly. I would like to recode my variable 'Question' so that the values become; SQ01, SQ02, SQ03,, SQ59. And for your new variables if you name an array like: Array newq(10) that will create 10 numeric Hello sbjwhl, Thank you for the help, but I don't know why It doesn't work. SAS/LAB software provides facilities for creating a new variable that is a recoding of an existing variable in the same data set. You can use this window to recode a continuous variable (the original variable) into a discrete variable (the new variable). Find more tutorials on the SAS Users YouTube channel . 1. Your B5 appears to be character. But SAS code will treat a character variable that is all spaces as missing. Note that PROC MEANS will only work on numeric I need to change color or make bold to character variable using proc format. ); run; The data are purely numbers (ie 1, 20, 25, 100, 250, etc. I use the following code to c pulsechar=strip(input(pulsen,best. First off, do over array is an implicit array. 5<gpa<1. Providing examples of before and after data is a big help, in the form of a data step as demonstrated at the beginning of @Kurt_Bremser's first response "data have". Hi Thank you for responding to my query. These predictors are coded as character variables but our “User” believes I am trying to recode a character variable "Gender" with responses Male, Female and NA. This Here is one method that use the eq: variable list syntax in SAS that is similar to the syntax of your variable selection before. I always got the message "NOTE: Creating new variable and Recoding SAS. Clearly, this is not the comparison you want to make. ; b=1; c=1; output; a = 1; b=. I tried your code (second code block) in sas enterprise guide 8. 1 documentation | 8. I have a series of categorical variables that I would like to recode based on their frequency/count. 0 Likes 1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION Hey, Since the DOB is a numeric value to begin with, you must first convert it to character that is in the format MMDDYYYY by Hello all. what could be wrong please? I am trying to use an if-then statement with a variable character. The maximum length of any character variable in SAS is 32,767 bytes. For example, suppose that the gender variable for patients is recorded as a binary 0/1 variable. 181) (64-bit) but it doesn't work First of all, you can't convert a character variable to a numeric one on the fly. Thank you Hello Astounding, Thank you for the help, but I don't know why It doesn't work. A three-level categorical variable becomes two variables, etc. The MEAN is the percentage of 1 values in decimal form. Mark as New Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables Posted 10-08-2024 06:51 AM (1701 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. To add to Has multiple issues. 0. You can assign missing character values in assignment statements by setting the character variable to a blank surrounded by quotation marks. Customer and then double-click Recode Values. The n is the position of the term to be selected from the source. SAS Innovate 2025: Register Now. ; ARRAY-NAME is the name of the array which follows the same rule as variable names. I use the table generated in the above macro to fill in the cut off points for each percentile for each variable. Below is the original dataset when all the variables are still numeric: Hi, I'm working on a sample data set using property information. SAS Tasks in SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office About the Recode Values Task. For example, the matching macro we discussed in example 7. I was under the impression that " $3. I am looking to have ONE variable that You answered the second question yourself. In my work I have between variables in the raw data and the new variable names. Getting Started; Community Memo; All Things Community; SAS Customer Recognition Awards (2024) Recode a Variable. The list-of-delimiters can list one, multiple, or no delimiters. Once the variable is created there really isn't any other approach than either an input or put to a new variable. When you add quotes, "Y" refers to a character string. Argh. Getting Started; With recoding you modify the actual internal value of a variable and then assign the result to a new variable. I know how to that in long hand (see below), but was wondering is there was a better way to do this. if plzz can anyone help me out , Thankyou. data two; set one; Once a variable is created you cannot change its type from character to numeric or the other way. As above, Re: Assistance with Recoding 5 variables into 1 new variable - New User Posted 06-06-2022 05:12 PM (909 views) | In reply to SAS_Novice22 Another way to examine multiple variables for the same value is the WHICHC function for Character values or WHICHN for Numeric values. The general structure is as follows: You'll need to modify it to match your exact cases. You defined the format you wanted to use, but you did not tell SAS to use it for any of your variables. If you want to test to see if a value is missing use the Missing function instead. 1 Like SASKiwi. Black/non Hispanic. Related: How to Convert Numeric Variable to Character in SAS. With an informat. 8 Recode a variable Posted 08-10-2016 08:56 AM (1916 views) hey, iam new to sas , recently stuck to a problem. First District is not a variable in your base data set, Districts is. Add a FORMAT statement to your PROC step. For example, the following statement sets the day of departure based on the number of days in the tour. com I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. If you want to adjust the display format of the output variable, use the FORMAT statement. Getting Started; Learn how use the CAT functions in SAS to join values from multiple variables into a single value. There is a wealth of stored formats in SAS® that may be used to express data in many ways. I have a feeling, you could make the solution less tedious and more effective by using Hashes or formats( as @Reeza )suggested. I have categorical variable ( string variable) with 3 levels: one, two and three. 004). I am using the following code: data want; set have; med2_dose = input(med2_dose, 6. 8 Solved: Have data like (but over 20 variables): Input X1-X5; Cards; 20 10 31 23 42 41 32 44 02 11 22 08 34 82 05 10 45 22 09 10 . I have been using PROC CONTENTS and then copying and pasting the character variables into the array list. I am wanting the values of 77 and 99 to be coded to missing so they are not included in the frequency tables. I have in total 13 variables and a response variable Y. data survey1; set survey; ARRAY VAR Recoding Variables to Compare Posted 10-31-2023 12:54 PM Character formats are named starting with $ and the values are in quotes. Join us for SAS Innovate 2025, our biggest Hello folks, I have a problem that I have no been able to solve. Missing for a character variable in SAS is space, "". You have to recode them into a series of 0-1 values and use them in the model. Viewed 276 times 1 . = " " 1 = "MOTHER (STEP, FOSTER, ADOPTIVE) OR FEMALE GUARDIAN" 2 = "FATHER (STEP, FOSTER, ADOPTIVE) OR MALE GUARDIAN" 3 = "GRAN Creating new variable and Recoding SAS. ; SUBSCRIPT is the number of values the array is going to store. Converting numeric value to character, 0. 4. I have also succeeded in coding Does anyone know of a quick way to convert several character variables into binary variables where the binary variables represents a yes/no for each character value? For example, consider a dataset of student names and the letter grade they received on each quiz (with no numeric score information): The SAS code below creates a data set named TestData for use in a logistic regression example. I am running into a problem though where every time I run my code, the system converts my character variables into numeric variables and then defaults to the else statement. test; do num=1 to 5; if num <= 2 then char="abc"; else Since SAS stores character variables as fixed length they are always padded with spaces. SAS® Studio: Working with Flows documentation. The next SET statement which will execute brings in only the variables the are NOT to be set to missing. E. I used Learn how use the CAT functions in SAS to join values from multiple variables into a single value. You should know the specific format needed with a put function to create a character variable we can't. recode values in a character variable based on another character Your solution worked! However, when I try to convert a numeric variable to a character using "put" statement, it doesn't work. You are presented with a sorted list of the values of the old variable (without duplicates), and you can specify a value of the new variable to correspond to each one. However SAS does provide for the display of special text for a missing value by use of a custom display format. ) Whenever I run this code all of the numeric data is lost in the n numeric_var = input (character_var, comma9. This method of recoding enables you to assign a value of the new variable for each particular value of the old variable. Is it possible to give a range or I have to specify each value. Somehow I could only get nVAR1-nVAR5 , but not rVAR1-rVAR5. Ask Question Asked if race=4 then label=4; *or you could have label='Hispanic', also - could use this to convert to character strings; else label=coalesce(label,race); *otherwise only change race if label is missing; if last. The Recode Values task enables you to change the values of character and numeric variables. This is why you Hi , Sorry for jumping in a bit too late. Basically, I want to recode the character R as the numeric missing value 999 but. If a categorical variable contains k levels, the GLMMOD procedure creates k binary dummy variables. Which SAS will attempt to help you by converting the 1 to character since you are using a character variable. This new variable is added to the current data set. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get For character variables, you must use the longest possible value in the first statement that uses the variable, because you cannot change the length with a subsequent LENGTH statement within the same DATA step. With this step, you can specify single values to be recoded as other values documentation. 3 Update 3 (8. 0 Likes bikash. User’s Guide. I have a SAS Data Set containing a Character Variable: 'Question' with values as follows: DQ01, DQ02, DQ03,,DQ59. This is a terrible Recoding variables in SAS. 2. I think I forgot to tell an information here. It can be any kind of character expression, including character variables, character constants, and so on. sas. This adds numeric variables to This technique uses an un-executed set statement (compile time function only) to define all variables in the original data set. run this: Proc format library=work; value Lifeex . Most people would suggest not to use implicit array as it's been deprecated. BTW. Character variables can be used in declarative statements, comparison statements, or assignment statements where they can be manipulated to create new character variables. PaigeMiller. | Miami University - Oxford | Sas code examples demonstrating various data manipulation techniques, including recoding missing values using . To recode values in a data set: SAS® Help Center. Hot Network Questions make command throws different name for gcc-12 How can I visualize the movement of a solar sail? How to design a network and loss function for classes, composed of two other classes? SAS will not allow character values for numeric variables. Here are the first 6 obs: Solved: I'm trying to recode some character values into numeric values. 4. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables (1720 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. This new variable is added to the current Specify whether you are recoding values for a numeric or character variable. Race: 0=MR 1= White 2= Black 3= American Indian 4=Asian 5=Pacific Islander 8= Other . So most SAS PROCs will use your continuous variable as if it was categories. Recode: marital status ([married (4,5) and not married (1,2,3,6,7,8) High Are those variables NUMERIC or CHARACTER? If they are character then comparisons will be down lexigraphically (the first character is comparied. On discussion forums, many SAS programmers ask about the best way to generate dummy variables for categorical variables. Did you know that you can also use SAS formats to recode a variable or to bin a numerical variable into categories? I have a number of ID variables. For example, the expression The PUT functions PUT(), PUTN(), and PUTC(), are the SAS conventional methods for recasting or recoding values. In SAS a variable can be defined as only one type, so you cannot use the same variable name to convert the values. SAS Training: Just a Click Away Our comparisons could just as easily involve character variables. I am analyzing some student survey data which had a ‘race’ variable where respondents had the option to select more than one race category. Customer Support SAS Documentation. Recoding Variables to Compare Posted 10-31-2023 12:54 PM Character formats are named starting with $ and the values are in quotes. The variable rep78 is coded 1 through 5 standing for poor, fair, average, good and excellent. " Character values The GLMMOD procedure can create dummy variables for each categorical variable. , it still did not work and I got: Old_Var New_Var (8. I had tried this solution late last night already Description: . Viewed 376 times 2 . --Paige SAS formats are flexible, dynamic, and have many uses. jrnlfile is a dataset with journal names and identifiers. The advantages of this method include not only recode values in a character variable based on another character variable's value in sas. proc format; informat insex "female" = 0 "male" = 1 ; run; data want; set have; sex_num = input(sex,insex. Most functions use arguments supplied by the user; however, a few obtain The Recode Values step enables you to change the values of character and numeric variables. 4 and I'm trying to recode a variable called PHQ_9_Severity into "Normal" "Mild" "Moderate" Community. com The INPUT and PUT functions convert values for a variable from character to numeric, and from numeric to character. I always got the message "NOTE: Invalid numeric data". In one of the datasets two variables have character format, however in the other dataset all variables are numeric. Hello, I have a dataset that ressembles the one below (table A): each person (id) could tick to which ethnicity they identified themselves, so they could answer yes to multiple ones (each ethnicity was a variable with the answer being yes, no, or not stated). A simple example of recoding would be to place subject ages into categories; 0-22, 21-40, will create a character variable whose value is the formatted value of the argument variable. Because of that I have 6 separate race variables. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get something like the below: IF oldvar='oldvaluex' OR IF oldva I’m very new in learning SAS. data work. As you can see, this is very tedious and will become prohibitive if I have a HI @buechler66 . A character variable is a variable whose value contains letters, numbers, and special characters, and whose length can be from 1 to 32,767 characters long. ; run; How to convert numbers in a character variable to Numeric in sas. ” Additionally, this example will deal with a single variable only. Ready to level-up your skills? Creating new variable and Recoding SAS. z; c=1; output; a = 1; b=1; c=. Ask Question Asked 5 years, 9 months ago. The data set is FraminghamD. var1--var12, var19--var22, var30--var42). You should have the data set SASHELP. Home; Welcome. Solved: Hello Everyone, I am struggling to recode DOB date values into something more useful. d informat. 3. How can I recode the above variable using one In the simplest situation, a recoding of a variable converts each raw value to an easier-to-interpret value. The variable name is deathcauses (Cerebral Vascular Disease Coronary Heart Disease, Cancer, Other, or Unknown). Keeps the order and all variable attributes type, labels, format etc. proc freq; tables lmath; format lmath lmath. For example, if your data contains a column named Gender with possible values of "M" and "F," you can substitute "Male" for values of "M" and "Female" for Wondered if there is an easy way to recode a variable, and keep the same name and position. I tried creating new variables, it Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables (1754 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. ); run; or by using a condition SAS: recode variable across group of observations, including overriding option. 1 and i want to recode the zero values and character string specifically this type "?" in columns X1 to X13 in my dataset to NA. ; /* goodwillhunting exceeds 8 bytes long, so change the column length to 16 */ set mydata; if film = "1" then film = "batman"; /* recode the values for film variable */ else if film = "2" then film = To use an INFORMAT() to make a numeric value from a character string you need to use the INPUT() function or the INPUT statement. This will not work because the variable VAR is numeric and can not hold character values. The concept of using formats for grouping values of a variable is a very powerful tool in SAS as you do not need to write bunches of if/then/else code and keep adding variables to a data set. I hope your solution is working, nevertheless the logic can be hard on the macro processor and the storage of large sets of variable lists in macro vars. Below is the original dataset when all the variables are still numeric: data mydata; input film rating; *film is numeric; datalines; 1 2. " The hash OUTPUT method will overwrite a SAS data set, but not append. Here is some code that doesn't work. An NDA prevents me from providing any more details or data itself. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get I am attempting to convert this character variable called PriorWeight to a numeric variable called PriorWeight2. ); The following example shows how to use this function in practice. ; output; run; proc format; value num2char low-high =[f16. Of course, it can change “1” (character) to “A6037. I'm certain there is a different way to go about this. I tried to use the format BEST12. Please, I need help with the correct SAS code. Please refer to my other post in which I have explained my data structure problem. recode values in a character variable based on another character variable's value in sas. They are ten characters long but I need them to be thirteen characters long to match the data dictionary. data df1; a = . Calcite | Level 5. ($) is an optional parameter to be used only if the array is going to store character values. G 1) Community. If the number of cities in the tour is a week or less, then the day of departure is a Sunday. SAS® Enterprise Guide 8. Hot Network Questions make command throws different name for gcc-12 How can I visualize the movement of a solar sail? How to design a network and loss function for classes, composed of two other classes? They are both character variables, one a variable for race and another for ethnicity. Notice that the numeric variable was automatically assigned a length of 8 bytes, while the character variables were different depending upon the length. These are default assignments SAS will give on initialization. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get something like the below Some char variable values not recoding to indicator variables Posted 10-08-2024 06:51 AM (1420 views) I am creating indicator variables for character variables with a dataset imported from excel. We would like to change rep78 so that it has only three values, 1 You can use IF/THEN to recode variables. Please find below the code used. So "NA" being letters do not work. I need to create several binary variables: White/non Hispanic. This function uses the following basic syntax: character_var = put (numeric_var, 8. I’ve tried all kinds of files with different types of variables and different types of recoding, and I always end up losing all my observations. We use a macro which merges on some extra information based on postcode, which includes a variable called STHA. So, for example, if I had a series of records in the variable being a, a, a, b, b, c, I would like to recode my variable so that 'a ' (having the highest count) would be coded as 3 and 'c' (having the lowest count) would be coded as 1. Note these are case sensitive comparisons. A LABEL is just a single longer description of the variable than the name. With no quotes, delete is the name of a variable. VARIABLE-LIST is the optional list of variables which are the In some settings it may be necessary to recode a categorical variable with character values into a variable with numeric values. = 'NA'; run; In your data step add the line: Format Lifeex76 Lifeex. SAS Innovate I am trying to create several new variables from two variables: race and hispanic. with character variables as 'I000' will usually come up as less than 'I09'. class; format age age_group. Use PROC TRANSPOSE on an empty (obs=0) version of your source dataset to get a dataset with the variable names that match your name pattern. so I copied and pasted each value of the variable from a PROC FREQ to get something like the below I’m very new in learning SAS. When you press <Enter>, these values fill the 'Lower bound' column appropriately.