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INFORMAT |
Valid: | in a DATA step or PROC step |
Category: | Information |
Type: | Declarative |
Syntax |
INFORMAT variable(s)
<informat>
<DEFAULT=default-informat>; |
Tip: | To disassociate an informat from a variable, use the variable's name in an INFORMAT statement without specifying an informat. Place the INFORMAT statement after the SET statement. See Removing an Informat. |
Tip: | Informats that are associated with variables by using an INFORMAT statement behave like informats that you specify with a colon (:) modifier in an INPUT statement. SAS reads the variables by using list input with an informat. For example, you can use the : modifier with an informat to read character values that are longer than eight bytes, or numeric values that contain nonstandard values. For details, see INPUT, List . |
See Also: | Informats by Category |
Featured in: | Specifying Numeric and Character Informats |
A DEFAULT= informat specification applies to
Note: When you use the DEFAULT= option on the INFORMAT
statement, SAS reads values as formatted input, regardless of the style of
input that you specify on the INPUT statement.
Default: | If you omit DEFAULT=, SAS uses w.d as the default numeric informat and $w. as the default character informat. |
Tip | A DEFAULT= specification can occur anywhere in an INFORMAT statement. It can specify either a numeric default, a character default, or both. |
Featured in: | Specifying Default Informats |
Details |
An INFORMAT statement in a DATA step permanently associates an informat with a variable. You can specify standard SAS informats or user-written informats, previously defined in PROC FORMAT. A single INFORMAT statement can associate the same informat with several variables, or it can associate different informats with different variables. If a variable appears in multiple INFORMAT statements, SAS uses the informat that is assigned last.
Comparisons |
Examples |
This example uses an INFORMAT statement to associate a default numeric informat and a default character informat:
data tstinfmt; informat default=3.1 default=$char4.; input x1-x10 name $; put x1-x10 name; datalines; 111222333444555666777888999100Johnny ;The PUT statement produces this result :
----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+ 11.1 22.2 33.3 44.4 55.5 66.6 77.7 88.8 99.9 10 John
This example associates a character informat and a numeric informat with SAS variables. Although the character variables do not fully occupy 15 column positions, the INPUT statement reads the data records correctly by using modified list input:
data name; informat FirstName LastName $15. n1 6.2 n2 7.3; input firstname lastname n1 n2; datalines; Alexander Robinson 35 11 ; proc contents data=name; run; proc print data=name; run;
The following output shows a partial listing from PROC CONTENTS, as well as the report PROC PRINT generates.
The SAS System 3 CONTENTS PROCEDURE -----Alphabetic List of Variables and Attributes----- # Variable Type Len Pos Informat ------------------------------------------------ 1 FirstName Char 15 16 $15. 2 LastName Char 15 31 $15. 3 n1 Num 8 0 6.2 4 n2 Num 8 8 7.3 |
The SAS System 4 OBS FirstName LastName n1 n2 1 Alexander Robinson 0.35 0.011 |
This example disassociates an existing informat. The order of the INFORMAT and SET statements is important.
data rtest; set rtest; informat x; run;
See Also |
Statements:
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Copyright 1999 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.