SAS Tutorial | How to Concatenate Values in SAS

When combining data from two or more columns, you have options. For number values, you can use the SUM function. For character values, there are various CAT functions available. In this SAS How To Tutorial, SAS’ Andy Ravenna shows you the older way to perform concatenation and a newer method using some nifty CAT functions. Andy also explains how to use a handy shortcut: SAS variable lists.

Chapters
00:00 – Welcome
01:29 – How to combine data using newer concat functions??
05:49 – Older way to perform concatenation using double vertical bars
07:04 – CATX function
11:58 – Shortcut: Variable lists

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[andyravenna]

Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my video on concatenation. I got an email from SAS Technical Support that pointed out one inaccuracy. In my very first example, even though it *looks* like there is a space between "Age:" and the persons age, it actually got trimmed out by the CATS function. If you *really* want a blank space after "Age:" you could use just the CAT function like this: combo = cat(trim(name), ', Age: ', age); This example uses the trim function to get rid of any extra blanks in the name, but respects the one after "Age:". Enjoy! -Andy

[negusuworku]

Thank you. Very help full. I was laughing when you said no dog

[savannah]

good video i learned a lot thanks hank

[rogerward]

This is excellent, Andy! I am glad you did this tutorial.

[Mgilsy]

Great video. Thanks. Love the extra tips at the end.

[andyravenna]

I hope you enjoy learning about the CAT function (while seeing some other cats!) Please do let me know if you have any comments or questions. Thanks! Andy

[sagarkothari]

How would I run the same query when I want to keep all the columns of the said file and Add the additional concatenated column in the same file

[ToOpenseven]

How would you put together two vars - one has the numeric value of 99 and the other contains numeric vals of (1, 2, 3, etc.) I want the new var to be 99.01 or 99.02 etc.

[oluwafemijohnson]

Hi Andy, thanks for this video. I found it very helpful. Please, I need your help to solve a problem I had after I concatenated "Lastname, first name and middle name. I want middle initials. e.g., Johnson, Smart B. However, I was successful doing that but I have two different people in different departments with the names (e.g., Smith, Johnson L maybe in English dept and another person bearing the same Smith, Johnson L in French Dept). Please how can I solve this problem before joining the data set?

[bailandoasolas]

Hey Andy, great video. But I have a question, how can I do when I have a character like this: $390, 000? Regrets from Mexico