VINFORMATNX Function

Returns the informat name that is associated with the value of the specified argument.

Category:

Variable Information

Syntax

VINFORMATNX (expression)

Required Argument

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.

Details

If the VINFORMATNX function returns a value to a variable that has not yet been assigned a length, by default the variable is assigned a length of 200.

VINFORMATNX returns only the informat name, which does not include the width or the period (for example, $CHAR).

Comparisons

VINFORMATN returns the informat name that is associated with the specified variable. VINFORMATNX, however, evaluates the argument to determine the variable name. The function then returns the informat name that is associated with that variable name.
VINFORMATN does not accept an expression as an argument. VINFORMATNX 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, length, and type, among others. For a list, see the Variable Information functions in SAS Functions and CALL Routines by Category.

Example

The following SAS statements produce this result.

SAS Statement	Result
informat x1 x2 x3 $char6.; input x1 x2 x3; array vx(3) $6 vx1 vx2 vx3 ('x1' 'x2' 'x3'); y=vinformatnx(vx(1)); put y=;	y=$CHAR