INPUTC Function

Enables you to specify a character informat at run time.

Category:

Special

Syntax

INPUTC(source, informat<,w> )

Required Arguments

source

specifies a character constant, variable, or expression to which you want to apply the informat.

informat

is a character constant, variable, or expression that contains the character informat that you want to apply to source.

Optional Argument

w

is a numeric constant, variable, or expression that specifies a width to apply to the informat.

Interaction

If you specify a width here, it overrides any width specification in the informat.

Details

If the INPUTC function returns a value to a variable that has not yet been assigned a length, by default the variable length is determined by the length of the first argument.

Comparisons

The INPUTN function enables you to specify a numeric informat at run time. Using the INPUT function is faster because you specify the informat at compile time.

Example

This example shows how to specify character informats. The PROC FORMAT step in this example creates a format, TYPEFMT., that formats the variable values 1, 2, and 3 with the name of one of the three informats that this step also creates. The informats store responses of "positive," "negative," and "neutral" as different words, depending on the type of question. After PROC FORMAT creates the format and informats, the DATA step creates a SAS data set from raw data consisting of a number identifying the type of question and a response. After reading a record, the DATA step uses the value of TYPE to create a variable, RESPINF, that contains the value of the appropriate informat for the current type of question. The DATA step also creates another variable, WORD, whose value is the appropriate word for a response. The INPUTC function assigns the value of WORD based on the type of question and the appropriate informat.

   proc format;
      value typefmt 1='$groupx' 
                    2='$groupy'
                    3='$groupz';
      invalue $groupx 'positive'='agree'
                      'negative'='disagree'
                      'neutral'='notsure';
      invalue $groupy 'positive'='accept'
                      'negative'='reject'
                      'neutral'='possible';
      invalue $groupz 'positive'='pass'
                      'negative'='fail'
                      'neutral'='retest';
   run;
   data answers;
      input type response $;
      respinformat = put(type, typefmt.);
      word = inputc(response, respinformat);
      datalines;
   1 positive
   1 negative
   1 neutral
   2 positive
   2 negative
   2 neutral
   3 positive
   3 negative
   3 neutral
   ;

The value of WORD for the first observation is agree. The value of WORD for the last observation is retest.