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Problem Note 13406: Informat name is truncated during creation of a character informat with the CNTLIN= option in PROC FORMAT

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When creating a character informat from a control data set, PROC FORMAT
ignores the seventh and/or eighth characters of the informat name stored in the
FMTNAME column of the control data set.

In the following example, the informat name will be truncated to
ABCDEFHI.

   data infmt;
     fmtname='$abcdefghi';
     type='J';
     start='1';
     label='YES';
   run;

   proc format cntlin=infmt fmtlib;
   run;

The circumvention to the problem when creating the control data set with
DATA step code, is to make sure the informat name is preceded by an '@'.
The '@' indicates an informat.

   fmtname='@$abcdefghi';

In this example, the informat name is truncated to ABCDEFI.

   proc format cntlout=outinfmt;
     invalue $abcdefghi '1'='NO';
   run;

   proc format cntlin=outinfmt fmtlib;
   run;

The circumvention to the problem when using a control data set created
by the CNTLOUT= option, is to append the '@' using a DATA step prior to
PROC FORMAT CNTLIN=.

   data outinfmt;
     set outinfmt;
     if type='J' and fmtname ^=: '@$' then do;
        if fmtname=:'$' then fmtname='@'||fmtname;
        else if fmtname=:'@' then fmtname='@$'||substr(fmtname,2);
        else fmtname='@$'||fmtname;
     end;
   run;


A fix for SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3) for this issue is available at:

http://www.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/e9_sbcs_prod_list.html#013406

For customers running SAS with Asian Language Support (DBCS), this
fix should be downloaded from:

http://www.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/e9_dbcs_prod_list.html#013406


Operating System and Release Information

Product FamilyProductSystemSAS Release
ReportedFixed*
SAS SystemBase SASMicrosoft Windows XP Professional9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft® Windows® for 64-Bit Itanium-based Systems9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Solaris9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
HP-UX9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Linux9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
64-bit Enabled Solaris9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
z/OS9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
HP-UX IPF9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
64-bit Enabled HP-UX9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
OpenVMS Alpha9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
64-bit Enabled AIX9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Tru64 UNIX9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
AIX9 TS M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
* For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.