Date:         Wed, 19 Aug 1998 15:11:20 EDT
Reply-To:     sxh04@HEALTH.STATE.NY.US
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Suhua Hu <sxh04@HEALTH.STATE.NY.US>
Subject:      How to create a flat file using PROC CONTENTS

I am trying to create a flat file and a file layout from the output
of a PROC CONTENTS.  Everything looks OK except one problems: all
numeric variables got length of 8 rather than their orginal length.
 
See the attached program and output for details.  Thanks.
 
data one;
input id $char2. bgdate $char8. charvar $char5. num 1.;
cards;
6A01/02/90AAAAA2
6A11/22/90BBBBB3
6A02/02/90CCCCC4
8B02/01/90DDDDD5
8B02/20/90EEEEE6
8B03/01/90FFFFF6
;
 
proc contents data=one out=fileinfo(keep=name label length type
              format) position noprint;
 
proc format;
value typefmt 1='num' 2='char';
 
data layout;
  set fileinfo end=end;
  prelen=lag(length);
  if _n_=1 then startpos=1;
  else startpos+prelen;
  if type=1 then do;
  format=trim(left(put(length,2.)))||'.';
  end;
  else do;
       format='$char' ||trim(left(put(length,2.)))||'.';
  end;
  n+1;
  call symput ('var'||left(put(n,3.)),name);
  call symput ('fmt'||left(put(n,3.)),format);
  if end then call symput('totvars',left(put(n,3.)));
run;
 
proc print data=layout noobs;
 var name startpos length type format;
 format type typefmt.;
run;
 
%macro vars;
   %do i=1 %to &totvars;
       &&var&i &&fmt&i
   %end;
%mend vars;
 
data _null_;
  set one;
  file outfile noprint;
  put @2 %vars;
run;
endsas;
 
File layout:
 
NAME       STARTPOS    LENGTH    TYPE    FORMAT
 
BGDATE         1          8      char    $char8.
CHARVAR        9          5      char    $char5.
ID            14          2      char    $char2.
NUM           16          8      num     8.
 
Flat File:
 
01/02/90AAAAA6A       2
11/22/90BBBBB6A       3
02/02/90CCCCC6A       4
02/01/90DDDDD8B       5
02/20/90EEEEE8B       6
03/01/90FFFFF8B       6