Using Informats (1)

Reading Raw Data in Fixed Fields

Using Informats

Remember that the general form of the INPUT statement using formatted input is:

INPUT pointer-control variable informat.;

An informat is the instruction that specifies how SAS software reads raw data. SAS software provides many informats for reading standard and nonstandard data values. Here is a small sample.

$ASCIIw. DATEw. NENGOw.

$BINARYw. DATETIMEw. PDw.d

$VARYINGw. HEXw. PERCENTw.

$w. JULIANw. TIMEw.

COMMAw.d MMDDYYw. w.d

Note that

Each informat contains a w value to indicate the width of the raw data field.
Each informat also contains a period, which is a required delimiter.
For some informats, the optional d value specifies the number of implied decimal places.
Informats for reading character data always begin with the dollar sign ($).

For quick access to a complete list of informats, select Help SAS System Help (see the index of informats and formats).