VTYPEX Function

Returns the type (character or numeric) for the value of the specified argument.

Category:

Variable Information

Syntax

VTYPEX (expression)

specifies a character constant, variable, or expression that evaluates to a variable name.

Restriction

The value of the specified expression cannot denote an array reference.

If the VTYPEX function returns a value to a variable that has not yet been assigned a length, by default the variable is assigned a length of 1.

VTYPEX returns N for numeric variables and C for character variables.

VTYPE returns the type of the specified variable. VTYPEX, however, evaluates the argument to determine the variable name. The function then returns the type (character or numeric) that is associated with that variable name.
VTYPE does not accept an expression as an argument. VTYPEX accepts expressions, but the value of the specified expression cannot denote an array reference.
Related functions return the value of other variable attributes, such as the variable name, informat, and format, among others. For a list, see the Variable Information functions in SAS Functions and CALL Routines by Category.

The following SAS statements produce this result.

SAS Statement	Result
array x(3) x1-x3; array vx(3) $6 vx1 vx2 vx3 ('x1' 'x2' 'x3'); y=vtypex(vx(1)); put y=;	y=N