VARTYPE Function

Returns the data type of a SAS data set variable.

Category:

SAS File I/O

Syntax

VARTYPE(data-set-id,var-num)

Required Arguments

data-set-id

specifies the data set identifier that the OPEN function returns.

var-num

specifies the number of the variable's position in the SAS data set.

Tips	This number is next to the variable in the list that is produced by the CONTENTS procedure.
	The VARNUM function returns this number.

Details

VARTYPE returns C for a character variable or N for a numeric variable.

Examples

Example 1: Using VARTYPE to Determine Which Variables Are Numeric

This example places the names of all the numeric variables of the SAS data set MYDATA into a macro variable.

%let dsid=%sysfunc(open(mydata,i));
%let varlist=;
%do i=1 %to %sysfunc(attrn(&dsid,nvars));
  %if (%sysfunc(vartype(&dsid,&i)) = N) %then
     %let varlist=&varlist %sysfunc(varname
                                 (&dsid,&i));
%end;
%let rc=%sysfunc(close(&dsid));

Example 2: Using VARTYPE to Determine Which Variables Are Character

This example creates a data set that contains the name and formatted contents of each character variable in the SAS data set MYDATA.

data vars;
   length name $ 8 content $ 20;
   drop dsid i num fmt rc;
   dsid=open("mydata","i");
   num=attrn(dsid,"nvars");
   do while (fetch(dsid)=0);
      do i=1 to num;
         name=varname(dsid,i);
         fmt=varfmt(dsid,i);
         if (vartype(dsid,i)='C') then do;
            content=getvarc(dsid,i);
            if (fmt ne '' ) then
             content=left(putc(content,fmt));
            output;
            end;
      end;
   end;
   rc=close(dsid);
run;