Data step sort vars by # decimal places

cookaaronl · Feb 14, 2011

Hello, I am working with numeric variables that are in one of the following three formats XX.XX, XX.X, and XX. I am trying to match the variables to clinical codes that do not have decimal places.

My first thought was to multiply by 100, but this introduces zeros for the XX.X and XX formats (which is to say, XXX0 and XX00). The clinical codes corresponding to these vars are in the following format XXX and XX.

How can I identify and group the different formats in the data statement to manipulate them individually? Or: XX.XX*100, XX.X*10 and XX left alone?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

MatthiasB · Feb 15, 2011

You can turn the number via format to a string w/o trailing zeros and remove punctuation with compress. Below example assumes you have max width of 5 characters incl a potential dot.

data x;
val = 23.45; output;
val = 23.4; output;
val = 23.; output;
run;

data _null_;
set x;
length valTxt $5;
valTxt = compress (put (val, best5.), '', 'p');
put val= valTxt=;
run;

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Data step sort vars by # decimal places

cookaaronl

Programmer

MatthiasB

IS-IT--Management

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