Date:         Mon, 12 Jan 1998 14:26:10 PST
Reply-To:     TWB2%Rates%FAR@bangate.pge.com
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Tim Berryhill 3rd time <TWB2%Rates%FAR@BANGATE.PGE.COM>
Subject:      Re: SPSS to SAS conversion
Comments: To: CBRADNER@ui.urban.org
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Carolyn, If one attempts to print a value which is too large for the field, SAS
prints *'s instead.  For instance, if a numeric variable is formatted as 2.0 and
one attempts to print a value of 999, SAS will print ** instead.  One way to
detect this problem is to (temporarily) reformat the variable:
 
PROC PRINT DATA=SUSPECT;
  VAR IDCODE ODDVAR;
  FORMAT ODDVAR BEST20. ;
  TITLE2 'Use Way Too Wide Format Debugging Asterisks';
RUN;
TITLE2;
 
Tim Berryhill - Contract Programmer and General Wizard
TWB2@PGE.COM or http://www.aartwolf.com/twb.html
Frequently at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., San Francisco
The correlation coefficient between their views and
my postings is slightly less than 0
----------------------[Reply - Original Message]----------------------
 
Sent by:"Carolyn Bradner" <cbradner@UI.URBAN.ORG>
 I have a question about conversion of SPSS data to SAS.  I have found
that missing codes (i.e. 99) sometimes convert to **, rather than
retain the numeric value, in the SAS converted data.  The variables
register as numeric, and I cannot seem to program SAS to convert
these ** values to anything else.   I used DBMS Copy for the data
conversion.  Has anyone else experienced this?  If so, have you found
a solution (other than recoding the SPSS data prior to conversion)?
 
Thanks.
___________________________
CAROLYN BRADNER
Population Studies Center
The Urban Institute
2100 M Street NW
Washington, D.C.  20037
(202) 974-2253
 
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