SAS 9.4 Language Reference, 6th Edition

How SAS Stores Numeric Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Floating-Point Representation Using the IEEE Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Floating-Point Representation on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Floating-Point Representation on IBM Mainframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Troubleshooting Errors in Precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Transferring Data between Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Definition of SAS Variables

variables

are containers that you create within a program to store and use character and

numeric values. Variables have attributes, such as name and type, that enable you to

identify them and that define how they can be used.

character variables

are variables of type character that contain alphabetic characters, numeric digits 0

through 9, and other special characters.

numeric variables

are variables of type numeric that are stored as floating-point numbers, including

dates and times.

numerical precision

refers to the degree with which numeric variables are stored in your operating

environment.

SAS Variable Attributes

A SAS variable has the attributes that are listed in the following table:

Table 4.1 Variable Attributes

Variable Attribute Possible Values Default Value

Name Any valid SAS name. See

Chapter 3, “Rules for Words and

Names in the SAS Language,” on

page 21.

None

Type

*

Numeric and character. Numeric

Length

*

2 to 8 bytes.

**

1 to 32,767 bytes for character.

8 bytes for numeric

and character

Format See “Dictionary of Formats” in

SAS Formats and Informats:

Reference

BEST12. for numeric,

$w. for character

38 Chapter 4 • SAS Variables