BESTw.

BESTw.

SAS System chooses the best notation

Numeric

Width range: 1-32 bytes

Default width: 12

Alignment: right

OS/390 specifics: writes output as EBCDIC, minimum and maximum values

Details
See Also

Details

Numbers are written using EBCDIC code with one digit per byte. Because the value is output as EBCDIC text characters, you can print it without further formatting.

The range of the magnitude of numbers is from 5.4 x 10^-79 to 7.2 x 10⁷⁵. Any number that is outside this range causes an overflow error. All numeric variables that are represented by the SAS System are within this range.

The following examples illustrate the use of BESTw. under OS/390:

Value Format Results Notes

1234
best6.
bb1234

-1234 best6.
b-1234

12.34 best6.
b12.34

12345678 best8.
1.2346E8
truncated and rounded

Value	Format	Results	Notes
1234	best6.	bb1234
-1234	best6.	b-1234
12.34	best6.	b12.34
12345678	best8.	1.2346E8	truncated and rounded

Note: In these examples, the Value column represents the value of the SAS numeric variable. The Results column shows what the numeric output looks like when viewed from a text editor. The b characters in the Results column indicate blank spaces. See EBCDIC Code: Commonly Used Characters for a table of commonly used EBCDIC characters. [cautionend]

See Also

Format: BESTw. in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary

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Numeric
Width range:	1-32 bytes
Default width:	12
Alignment:	right
OS/390 specifics:	writes output as EBCDIC, minimum and maximum values