Date:         Thu, 20 Feb 1997 11:50:46 -0800
Reply-To:     Jean-Pierre Le Cruguel <jean-pierrel@ALGENE.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Jean-Pierre Le Cruguel <jean-pierrel@ALGENE.COM>
Organization: Communications Accessibles Montreal, Quebec Canada
Subject:      Re: changing variable names
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Nicole Morgan Gibson wrote:
>
> I have several data files of data collected over a five year period.
> These files need to be merged together by id but the variable names do
> not change from year to year. Is there any way to efficiently
> change the variable names in sas? I am currently using proc datasets
> but do I have to type each oldname and newname? Can I use the statement
> rename var1-var10=newvar1-newvar10? I'm pretty sure the answer is
> no, but can someone suggest a good way to change hundreds of
> variable names in an efficient manner?
>
> Thanks, Nicole
 
Hi Nicole,
 
What you need to use is an array statement in each of your datasets
before to merge them.
 
/* year 1 */
DATA one;
  SET datyear1;
  ARRAY var{*} var1-var100;
  ARRAY yr1var{*} yr1var1-yr1var100;
  DO i = 1 TO DIM(var);
    yr1var{i} = var{i};
  END;
  KEEP id yr1var1-yr1var100;
RUN;
 
For doing this, your variable names must be sequential (even in several
sequences), otherwise you will have to rename them one by one.
 
 
JP