CODEWITHSUNDEEP
sas
jimmy
jimmy

Reputation: 1

CSV document import by using filename statement

I want to read a CSV document by using a filename statement in SAS but Excel already included variable names as the first line when I input variable names by using an input statement--there is going to be a mistake. How can I deal with this situation?

filename outdata "C:\Users\Xiang\Desktop\crime2005.csv";

data crime;
    infile outdata dlm="," dsd ;
run;

proc means mean std maxdec=1 ;
run; 

proc print;
run;

Upvotes: 0

Views: 3472

Answers (1)

Joe
Joe

Reputation: 63424

First off - you're confusing things a bit by saying 'via the filename statement'. This is via datastep. The filename statement happens to be a relatively small component of this.

Second, let's get this into proper SAS indenting so we can see what's going on:

filename outdata "C:\Users\Xiang\Desktop\crime2005.csv";

data crime;
 infile outdata dlm="," dsd ;
 input [your-variable-list];
run;

proc means data=crime mean std maxdec=1 ;
run;

proc print data=crime;
run;

Data steps and Procs end with run (except for Procs that end in quit). Each of these is a separate step, so always include the run. Always include data= , unless you're using some fancy programming trick. 'data' always is in the first column, not indented - data step is the master statement, not filename.

These make your code readable, and protect you from mistakes. Readable code is important, even if you work alone; it means you understand what you wrote five years ago, five years from now.

Your original question - how do I avoid the errors from the header row?

filename outdata "C:\Users\Xiang\Desktop\crime2005.csv";

data crime;
 infile outdata dlm="," dsd firstobs=2;
 input [your-variable-list];
run;

There you go. FIRSTOBS=2 tells SAS to skip the first line [ie, the header row].

One thing you might try is a PROC IMPORT. PROC IMPORT with DBMS=CSV will do something really handy for you - it will put in the log a complete data step with all of the code to read the file in yourself. So while I don't actually recommend PROC IMPORT for production code [as it often makes poor decisions as to character/numeric formatting and lengths, among other things], it is very helpful to see how to get started with an input statement.

proc import file=outdata out=crime dbms=csv replace;
run;

Then look at your log, and copy that code out (removing line numbers); now you can modify it to your heart's content.

Upvotes: 3

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