SAS Institute. The Power to Know

SAS(R) 9.2 Language Reference: Dictionary

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Formats

$QUOTEw. Format



Writes data values that are enclosed in double quotation marks.
Category: Character
Alignment: left

Syntax
Syntax Description
Details
Examples

Syntax

$QUOTEw.

Syntax Description

w

specifies the width of the output field.

Default: 2 if the length of the variable is undefined; otherwise, the length of the variable + 2
Range: 2-32767
Tip: Make w wide enough to include the left and right quotation marks.

Details

The following list describes the output that SAS produces when you use the $QUOTEw. format. For examples of these items, see Examples.

  • If your data value is not enclosed in quotation marks, SAS encloses the output in double quotation marks.

  • If your data value is not enclosed in quotation marks, but the value contains a single quotation mark, SAS

    • encloses the data value in double quotation marks

    • does not change the single quotation mark.

  • If your data value begins and ends with single quotation marks, and the value contains double quotation marks, SAS

    • encloses the data value in double quotation marks

    • duplicates the double quotation marks that are found in the data value

    • does not change the single quotation marks.

  • If your data value begins and ends with single quotation marks, and the value contains two single contiguous quotation marks, SAS

    • encloses the value in double quotation marks

    • does not change the single quotation marks.

  • If your data value begins and ends with single quotation marks, and contains both double quotation marks and single, contiguous quotation marks, SAS

    • encloses the value in double quotation marks

    • duplicates the double quotation marks that are found in the data value

    • does not change the single quotation marks.

  • If the length of the target field is not large enough to contain the string and its quotation marks, SAS returns all blanks.


Examples

put name $quote20.;

Value of name Results

----+----1
SAS
"SAS"
SAS's
"SAS's"
'ad"verb"'
"'ad""verb""'"
'ad''verb'
"'ad''verb'"
'"ad"''"verb"'
"'""ad""''""verb""'"
deoxyribonucleotide

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