If you
define a numeric variable and assign the result of a character expression
to it, SAS tries to convert the character result of the expression
to a numeric value and to execute the statement. If the conversion
is not possible, SAS prints a note to the log, assigns the numeric
variable a value of missing, and sets the automatic variable _ERROR_
to 1. For a listing of the rules by which SAS automatically converts
character variables to numeric variables and vice versa, see
Automatic Numeric-Character Conversion. If you define a character
variable and assign the result of a numeric expression to it, SAS
tries to convert the numeric result of the expression to a character
value using the BESTw. format, where w is the width of the character
variable and has a maximum value of 32. SAS then tries to execute
the statement. If the character variable that you use is not long
enough to contain a character representation of the number, SAS prints
a note to the log and assigns the character variable asterisks. If
the value is too small, SAS provides no error message and assigns
the character variable the character zero (0).
Automatic Variable Type Conversions (partial SAS log)
44 data _null_;
45 x= 3626885;
46 length y $ 4;
47 y=x;
48 put y;
49 run;
NOTE: Numeric values have been converted to character
values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).
47:6
36E5
50 data _null_;
51 x1= 3626885;
52 length y1 $ 1;
53 y1=x1;
54 xs=0.000005;
55 length ys $ 1;
56 ys=xs;
57 put y1= ys=;
58 run;
NOTE: Numeric values have been converted to character
values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).
53:7 56:7
NOTE: Invalid character data, x1=3626885.00 , at line 53 column 7.
y1=* ys=0
x1=3626885 y1=* xs=5E-6 ys=0 _ERROR_=1 _N_=1
NOTE: At least one W.D format was too small for the number to be printed. The
decimal may be shifted by the "BEST" format.
59 proc printto; run;
In the first DATA step
of the example, SAS is able to fit the value of Y into a 4-byte field
by representing its value in scientific notation. In the second DATA
step, SAS cannot fit the value of Y1 into a 1-byte field and displays
an asterisk (*) instead.