Functions and CALL Routines

VARTYPE Function

Returns the data type of a SAS data set variable.

Category:

SAS File I/O

Syntax
Arguments
Details
Examples
	Example 1: Using VARTYPE to Determine which Variables are Numeric
	Example 2: Using VARTYPE to Determine which Variables are Character
See Also

Syntax

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

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.

Tip:	This number is next to the variable in the list that is produced by the CONTENTS procedure.

Tip:	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;