VINFORMATX Function

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

Category:

Variable Information

Syntax

VINFORMATX (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 VINFORMATX 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.

VINFORMATX returns the complete informat name, which includes the width and the period (for example, $CHAR20.).

Comparisons

VINFORMAT returns the informat that is associated with the specified variable. VINFORMATX, however, evaluates the argument to determine the variable name. The function then returns the informat that is associated with that variable name.
VINFORMAT does not accept an expression as an argument. VINFORMATX 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) $6 vx1 vx2 vx3 ('x1' 'x2' 'x3'); y=vinformatx(vx(1)); put y=;	y=$CHAR6.