ZIPCITY Function

Returns a city name and the two-character postal code that corresponds to a ZIP code.

Category:

State and ZIP Code

Syntax

ZIPCITY(ZIP-code)

Required Argument

ZIP-code

specifies a numeric or character expression that contains a five-digit ZIP code.

Tip	If the value of ZIP-code begins with leading zeros, you can enter the value without the leading zeros. For example, if you enter 1040, ZIPCITY assumes that the value is 01040.

Details

The Basics

If the ZIPCITY function returns a value to a variable that has not yet been assigned a length, by default the variable is assigned a length of 20.

ZIPCITY returns a city name and the two-character postal code that corresponds to its five-digit ZIP code argument. ZIPCITY returns the character values in mixed-case. If the ZIP code is unknown, ZIPCITY returns a blank value.

Note: The SASHELP.ZIPCODE data set must be present when you use this function. If you remove the data set, ZIPCITY will return unexpected results.

How the ZIP Code Is Translated to the State Postal Code

To determine which state corresponds to a particular ZIP code, this function uses a zone table that consists of the start and end ZIP code values for each state. It then finds the corresponding state for that range of ZIP codes. The zone table consists of start and end ZIP code values for each state to allow for exceptions, and does not validate ZIP code values.

With very few exceptions, a zone does not span multiple states. The exceptions are included in the zone table. It is possible for new zones or new exceptions to be added by the U.S. Postal Service at any time. However, SAS software is updated only with each new release of the product.

Determining When the State Postal Code Table Was Last Updated

The SASHELP.ZIPCODE data set contains postal code information that is used with ZIPCITY and other ZIP code functions. To determine when this data set was last updated, execute PROC CONTENTS:

proc contents data=SASHELP.ZIPCODE;
run;

Output from the CONTENTS procedure provides the date of the last update, along with the contents of the SASHELP.ZIPCODE data set.

Note: You can download the latest version of the SASHELP.ZIPCODE file from the Technical Support Web site. Select Zipcode Dataset from the Name column to begin the download process. You must execute the CIMPORT procedure after you download and unzip the data set.

Comparisons

The ZIPCITY, ZIPNAME, ZIPNAMEL, and ZIPSTATE functions accept the same argument but return different values:

ZIPCITY returns the name of the city in mixed-case and the two-character postal code that corresponds to its five-digit ZIP code argument.
ZIPNAME returns the uppercase name of the state or U.S. territory that corresponds to its five-digit ZIP code argument.
ZIPNAMEL returns the mixed case name of the state or U.S. territory that corresponds to its five-digit ZIP code argument.
ZIPSTATE returns the uppercase two-character state postal code (or world-wide GSA geographic code for U.S. territories) that corresponds to its five-digit ZIP code argument.

Example: Examples

The following SAS statements produce these results.

SAS Statement	Result
city1=zipcity(27511); put city1;	Cary, NC
length zip $10.; zip='90049-1392'; zip=substr(zip,1,5); city2=zipcity(zip); put city2;	Los Angeles, CA
city3=zipcity(4338); put city3;	Augusta, ME
city4=zipcity(01040); put city4;	Holyoke, MA