The raw data file Patdata contains patient information from a small group of general surgeons. The first three records contain a patient's name, address, city, state, and ZIP code. The fourth record contains the patient's ID number followed by the name of the primary physician.

Raw Data File Patdata  1---+----10---+----20--- 1ALEX BEDWAN  2609 WILTON MEADOW DRIVE  3GARNER NC 27529  4XM034 FLOYD   ALISON BEYER   8521 HOLLY SPRINGS ROAD   APEX NC 27502   XF124 LAWSON

Suppose you want to read each patient's information in the following order: ID number (ID) first name (Fname) last name (Lname) address (Address) city (City) state (State) ZIP (Zip) doctor (Doctor)

To read the values for ID in the 4th record, specify #4 before naming the variable and defining its attributes.

data perm.patients; infile patdata; input #4 ID $5.

1---+----10---+----20--- ALEX BEDWAN  609 WILTON MEADOW DRIVE  GARNER NC 27529  XM034 FLOYD

To read the values for Fname and Lname in the first record, specify #1 before naming the variables and defining their attributes.

data perm.patients;9 infile patdata; input #4 ID $5. #1 Fname $ Lname $

1---+----10---+----20--- ALEX BEDWAN  609 WILTON MEADOW DRIVE  GARNER NC 27529  XM034 FLOYD

Use the #n line pointer control to position the input pointer on the second record and read the value for Address.

data perm.patients; infile patdata; input #4 ID $5. #1 Fname $ Lname $ #2 Address $23.

1---+----10---+----20--- ALEX BEDWAN  609 WILTON MEADOW DRIVE  GARNER NC 27529  XM034 FLOYD

Now direct the input pointer to the third record and read the values for City, State, and Zip respectively.

In this raw data file, the values for City contain eight characters or less and do not contain embedded blanks. So, you can use standard list input to read these values.

data perm.patients; infile patdata; input #4 ID $5. #1 Fname $ Lname $ #2 Address $23. #3 City $ State $ Zip $

1---+----10---+----20--- ALEX BEDWAN  609 WILTON MEADOW DRIVE  GARNER NC 27529  XM034 FLOYD

Now you need to move the input pointer down to the fourth record to read the values for Doctor, which begin in column 7. Don't forget to add a semicolon at the end of the INPUT statement. A RUN statement completes the program.

data perm.patients; infile patdata; input #4 ID $5. #1 Fname $ Lname $ #2 Address $23. #3 City $ State $ Zip $ #4 @7 Doctor $6.; run;

1---+----10---+----20--- ALEX BEDWAN  609 WILTON MEADOW DRIVE  GARNER NC 27529  XM034 FLOYD