Date:         Tue, 25 Oct 2005 11:51:17 -0400
Reply-To:     Chang Chung <chang_y_chung@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Chang Chung <chang_y_chung@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: best informat ? (was: Re: Data conversion)
Comments: To: Ya Huang <ya.huang@AMYLIN.COM>

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 11:40:44 -0400, Ya Huang <ya.huang@AMYLIN.COM> wrote:

>>
>>So:  if tt="C" then val1=input(a,best.);
>>is incorrect as best. is not an informat,
>>but a numeric format.
>>
>
>SASsy <sas__l@HOTMAIL.COM> mentioned in his reponse to an old question
>that best. is not an informat. I was bit of surprised since I've used
>it as information many times, and found it works fine:
>
>1    data _null_;
>2    a='456.78';
>3    b=input(a,best.);
>4    put a= b=;
>5    run;
>
>a=456.78 b=456.78
>NOTE: DATA statement used:
>      real time           0.00 seconds
>      cpu time            0.00 seconds
>
>I then checked the online doc and indeed I couldn't find the best. informat.
>Am I missing something here? Is best really NOT a informat, then why the
>code works fine ?

Hi,
The following are the different names for the same informat:
  w.d BESTw.d Dw.d Ew.d Fw.d
Cheers,
Chang