specifies a numeric
constant, variable, or expression.
selection
specifies a character
constant, variable, or expression. The value of this argument is returned
by the CHOOSEC function.
Details
Length of Returned Variable
In a DATA step, if the
CHOOSEC function returns a value to a variable that has not previously
been assigned a length, then that variable is given a length of 200
bytes.
The Basics
The CHOOSEC function
uses the value of index-expression to select from the arguments that follow. For example, if index-expression is three, CHOOSEC returns the
value of selection-3. If the
first argument is negative, the function counts backwards from the
list of arguments, and returns that value.
Comparisons
The CHOOSEC function
is similar to the CHOOSEN function except that CHOOSEC returns a character
value while CHOOSEN returns a numeric value.
Example
The following example
shows how CHOOSEC chooses from a series of values:
data _null_;
Fruit=choosec(1,'apple','orange','pear','fig');
Color=choosec(3,'red','blue','green','yellow');
Planet=choosec(2,'Mars','Mercury','Uranus');
Sport=choosec(-3,'soccer','baseball','gymnastics','skiing');
put Fruit= Color= Planet= Sport=;
run;