SAS Certification Prep Guide, 4th Edition

Combining Line Pointer Controls

The forward slash (/) line pointer control and the #n line pointer control can be used together in a SAS program to read multiple records both sequentially and non-sequentially.

For example, you could use both the / line pointer control and the #n line pointer control to read the variables in the raw data file Patdata in the following order:

1. ID 2. Fname 3. Lname 4. Address

5. City 6. State 7. Zip 8. Doctor

 data perm.patients; 
    infile patdata; 
    input #4 ID $5. 
          #1 Fname $ Lname $ /  
             Address $23. / 
             City $ State $ Zip $ / 
             @7 Doctor $6.; 
run;

Figure 20.29 Raw Data File with the First Four Records Highlighted

• To read the values for ID in the fourth record, specify #4 before naming the variable ...