SAS INFORMATS AND FORMATS
http://basesasonlinetraining.blogspot.com/2015/07/sas-informats-and-formats.html
Informats are typically used to read or
input data from external files called flat files (text files, ASCII files, or
sequential files) whereas formats are used for outputting data. The informat
instructs SAS on how to read data into SAS variables while formats define
format to output data to external files/datasets/log.
SAS informats/formats are typically
grouped into three categories: character, numeric, and date/time. These are
named according to the following syntax structure:
• Character Informats:
$INFORMAT/FORMATw.
E.g. $CHAR6.
• Numeric Informats: INFORMAT/FORMATw.d
E.g. 8.2
• Date/Time Informats: INFORMAT/FORMATw.
E.g. DATE9.
The $ indicates a character
informat/format. INFORMAT/FORMAT refers to the sometimes optional
SAS informat/format name. The w
indicates the width (bytes or number of columns) of the variable. The d is used
for numeric data to specify the number of digits to the right of the decimal
place. All informats/format must contain a decimal point (.) so that SAS can
differentiate it from a SAS variable
Following table will illustrate various
ways to use Informats and Formats in SAS –
