Date:         Thu, 7 Feb 2008 12:44:24 -0500
Reply-To:     Randy Herbison <RandyHerbison@WESTAT.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Randy Herbison <RandyHerbison@WESTAT.COM>
Subject:      Re: In CARDS input a period as a character instead of as a
              missing         value ?
Comments: To: iw1junk@comcast.net
In-Reply-To:  <020720081726.12224.47AB3F520005634C00002FC0220702085305029A06CE9907@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Ian wrote:

"Your subject and the responses appear to be under the impression there
is something special about CARDS and INFORMAT."

I disagree.

Where do the responses suggest that any of this is limited to CARDS
input?

-Randy


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-sas-l@listserv.uga.edu [mailto:owner-sas-l@listserv.uga.edu]
On Behalf Of iw1junk@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 12:27 PM
To: SAS(r) Discussion
Cc: Richard A. DeVenezia
Subject: Re: In CARDS input a period as a character instead of as a
missing value ?


Summary: INPUT with missing character values
#iw-value=1

Richard,

Your subject and the responses appear to be under the impression there
is something special about CARDS and INFORMAT.  Actually it has nothing
to do with the type of file and everything is about the difference
between the $ and $CHAR informats.

   80   filename temp temp ;
   81   data _null_ ;
   82      file temp ;
   83      put "." ;
   84      put ". x" ;
   85      put ".x" ;
   86   run ;
   87
   88   data w ;
   89      infile temp truncover ;
   90      length a b c d e $ 8 ;
   91      informat c $char8. d $8. ;
   92      input
   93         @1 a $char8.
   94         @1 b $8.
   95         @1 c
   96         @1 d
   97         @1 e :$char8.
   98         @1 f :$8.
   99         ;
   100     put _all_ ;
   101  run ;

   a=. b=  c=. d=  e=. f=  _ERROR_=0 _N_=1
   a=. x b=. x c=. d=  e=. f=  _ERROR_=0 _N_=2
   a=.x b=.x c=.x d=.x e=.x f=.x _ERROR_=0 _N_=3

The $ informat deletes leading blanks, stops at a blank, and treats the
period with at most blanks as character missing.  The $CHAR informat
picks up exactly what is there without any translation.

Personally I strongly prefer to see the informat in the INPUT statement
and $CHAR informat.

Shortly after I first started using SAS, I found myself around mid-
night trying to read a file with 2000 byte records and mostly one or two
byte variables and explain why one of the character variables was coming
up with missing values in a freq, when a external dump said it was not.
(Fortunately this happened after the time when I could only get one or
two jobs run per day.)

Ian Whitlock
===============
Date:         Wed, 6 Feb 2008 22:41:43 -0500
Reply-To:     "Richard A. DeVenezia" <rdevenezia@WILDBLUE.NET>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion"
From:         "Richard A. DeVenezia" <rdevenezia@WILDBLUE.NET>
Organization: Internet News Service
Subject:      In CARDS input a period as a character instead of as a
missing value ?
Comments: To: sas-l

The following code inputs the period (.) as a missing value. Is there an
option to treat periods as just plain text when being read ?

data foo; length a b c $8; infile cards dlm=','; input a b c; cards;
abc,.,def run;

-- Richard A. DeVenezia http://www.devenezia.com/