Assigning Formats to Variables (2)

Formatting Variable Values

Assigning Formats to Variables

Permanently Formatting Values

Let's see how you can permanently associate formats with variables. If you use PROC PRINT to display the data set Perm.Aprbills, the ouput looks like this:

     proc print data=perm.aprbills;
     run;

Obs LastName DateIn DateOut RoomRate EquipCost Days RoomCharge Total

1 Akron 11052 11056 175 298.45 4 700 998.45

2 Brown 11059 11077 125 326.78 19 2375 2701.78

3 Carnes 11074 11076 125 174.24 2 250 424.24

4 Denison 11058 11059 175 87.41 1 175 262.41

Obs	LastName	DateIn	DateOut	RoomRate	EquipCost	Days	RoomCharge	Total
1	Akron	11052	11056	175	298.45	4	700	998.45
2	Brown	11059	11077	125	326.78	19	2375	2701.78
3	Carnes	11074	11076	125	174.24	2	250	424.24
4	Denison	11058	11059	175	87.41	1	175	262.41

Suppose you want to display these variables with the following formats:
DateIn, DateOut DATEw. RoomRate w.d RoomCharge COMMAw.d Total DOLLARw.d

You might not be familiar with the DATEw. and w.d formats, so let's discuss those first. The DATEw. format displays variable values in the form ddmmmyy or ddmmmyyyy, where

dd is an integer from 01 to 31, which represents the day
mmm is the first three letters of the month's name
yy or yyyy is the integer that represents the year

For example:

date7. 0 5 S E P 0 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 date9. 0 5 S E P 2 0 0 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The w.d format displays standard numeric values. The w value specifies the total width that is needed to display the values in output. The optional d value displays the number of decimal places. For example:

7. 3 5 6 8 0 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10.2 3 5 6 8 0 1 1 . 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10