Transforming Data with SAS Functions
Converting Data with Functions

 

Now that you know the general form of the PUT function, you can rewrite the assignment statement in your DATA step to explicitly convert the numeric values of Site to character values. To perform this conversion, write the PUT function by specifying Site as the source. Because Site has a length of 2, you choose 2. as the numeric format. After you add this PUT function to the assignment statement, the DATA step creates the new data set that contains Assignment. data hrd.newtemp; set hrd.temp; Assignment=put(site,2.)||'/'||department; run;

SAS Data Set Hrd.Newtemp

Overtime	Job	Contact	Department	Site	BirthDate	Assignment
4	Word processing	Word Processor	DP	26	7054	26/DP
.	Filing, administrative duties	Admin. Asst.	PURH	57	5757	57/PURH

Notice that no conversion messages appear in the SAS log when using the PUT function.

SAS Log

13 data hrd.newtemp; 14 set hrd.temp; 15 Assignment=put(site,2.)||'/'||department; 16 run; NOTE: The data set Hrd.Newtemp has 40 observations and 19 variables. NOTE: The DATA statement used 0.71 seconds.

Matching the Data Type Remember that the format specified in the PUT function must match the data type of the source. PUT(source,format) So, to do an explicit numeric-to-character data conversion, you specify a numeric source and a numeric format. The form of the PUT function is very similar to the form of the INPUT function. PUT(source,format) INPUT(source,informat) Note that the PUT function requires a format, whereas the INPUT function requires an informat. To remember which function requires a format versus an informat, note that the INPUT function requires the informat.