PROC TABULATE by Example, Second Edition

Format Large Numbers

The goal in using formats is to display the values in your table so that they are easy to view and understand. When you are dealing with large numbers, this can be a challenge.

The following code produces a table with some large dollar values:

PROC TABULATE DATA=TEMPBIG;
   CLASS SECTOR OCCUP;
   VAR INCOME;
   TABLE SECTOR, OCCUP*INCOME=' '*SUM=' '
      / BOX='Total Income';
RUN;

Because we did not specify a format, the default BEST12.2 format was used. In Output 10.11, we have a mess. Some of the numbers have two decimal places, some have one, and some have none. All of the numbers are very hard to read.

Output 10.11 Table with Large, Unformatted Dollar Values

Because these values are dollars, we can switch to a more appropriate ...