SAS Certification Prep Guide, 4th Edition

Write a Comma-Delimited File Using Formats

With some file layouts, you might need to mix input styles in the same INPUT statement in order to read the data correctly.

Table 18.1 Input Styles and the Types of Information They Read

Input Style	What It Reads
Column	standard data values in fixed fields
Formatted	standard and nonstandard data values in fixed fields
List	data values that are not arranged in fixed fields, but are separated by blanks or other delimiters

Look at the raw data file below and think about how to combine input styles to read these values.

Figure 18.41 Raw Data Showing Mixed Input Styles

• Column input is an appropriate choice for the first field because the values can be read as ...