Proc Format can be used to group categorical variables or numeric values for reporting. The following examples show the coversion of sex, age, and id variables into desired format. Method 1 uses put and input statements and creates new variables, while method 2 use format statement to just format the existing variables.
- Need $ in the format name for the existing character variable. eg. $gender
- Need to put . after the format name when applying the format. eg. gender = put(sex, $gender.); format age agerange. sex $gender.;
/**** Proc Format ****/
proc format;
value
$gender
‘M’ = ‘Male’
‘F’ = ‘Female’
;
value
agerange
1 – 30 = ‘le 30’
30<-40 = '31 to 40'
40<-50 = '41 to 50'
50<-60 = '51 to 60'
60<-100 = 'gt 60'
other = 'Missing'
;
run;
options fmtsearch = (work.formats);
Method1:
data admit;
set sasuser.admit;
agecatgory = put(age, agerange.);
gender = put (sex, $gender.);
numericid = input(id, 4.);
run;
Method2:
data admit;
set sasuser.admit;
format age agerange. sex $gender.;
run;
Character to Numeric, using INVALUE.
Example: convert character gpa to numeric gpa.
/*** calculate the ESL grade points that needs to be backed out from the GPA ***/
/** format grade to index **/
proc format ;
invalue /* UES INVALUE, NOT VALUE */
$grade
'A+' = 9
'A'= 8
'B+'= 7
'B'= 6
'C+' = 5
'C' = 4
'D+' = 3
'D' = 2
'E' = 1
'F' = 0
'P' = 0
;
run;
proc options option=fmtsearch;run;
data backgpa;
set pes;
array crs{3} esl1000 esl1010 esl1015 ;
array ncr{3} esl1000ncr esl1010ncr esl1015ncr ;
array cr{3} esl1000cr esl1010cr esl1015cr ;
array back{3} esl1000bo esl1010bo esl1015bo;
do i =1 to dim(crs);
if crs{i} ne '' and ncr{i} ne 'NCR' then back{i} = input(crs{i}, $Grade.) * input(cr{i}, 8.);
end;
drop course1-course20 gr1-gr20 credit1-credit20 ncr1-ncr20 i;
run;