SET (assign a value)

Syntax

where

• variable is a symbolic variable. The symbolic variable can be predefined or user-defined. A user-defined variable must start with an alphabetic character, can be up to eight characters long, and can comprise any alphanumeric character. It can be preceded by an ampersand (&) to distinguish it from a literal.
• expression can be variables, whole numbers, or character strings alone or in combination with operators. For more information, see Expressions-and-operators.

A value that was assigned to a variable before a SELECT statement does not change.

Usage

When the variable being set is used with DETAIL, SUMMARY, or USING statements, a DEFINE statement should be inserted before the SET statement.

A symbolic variable can be set to

• The value of another variable, which can be symbolic or predefined. For more information, see Predefined-variables.

  SET WEEK = &DAYS

  Note

  Ampersand (&) is a reserved word and should not be used as a variable value. In other words, &a is a variable while & or && is not.

• A character string

  Enclose characters in single quotation marks. Begin a variable inside quotation marks with an ampersand. Use a period to delimit a variable from a literal. The characters can be a direct substitute for the variable, a substring, or concatenated with other variables, as shown in the following examples:

  Example 1: Substitution

  In this example, ABCDEF is substituted for the symbolic variable, ALPHA:

  SET ALPHA = 'ABCDEF'

  Example 2: Substring

  In this example, B is assigned to the symbolic variable, BETA. The substring expression specifies that the second character of the string be substituted for &ALPHA, for a length of one character.

  SET BETA = &ALPHA(2:1)

  Example 3: Concatenation

  Character strings can be concatenated with other variables and literals. Identify variables with an ampersand prefix and add a period at the end of the variable to delimit it from a literal, as follows:

  SET ALPHA = 'A'
  SET DELTA = 'DEF'
  SET AD    = '&ALPHA.BC&DELTA'

  The AD variable is assigned a value of ABCDEF.

  If an ampersand prefix or a period suffix is not used to delimit the variables from the literals, the characters are assigned to the AD variable. An example follows:

  SET AD    = 'ALPHABCDELTA'

  In the preceding example, the AD variable is assigned a value of ALPHABCDELTA.
  
  

• A numeric integer to be used as a counter

  For decimal arithmetic, use the COMPUTE verb.

  SET DAYS = 7

  A number can be an integer from 0 to 9. The number can have one decimal point, a sign, or commas, but it cannot contain any blank characters or be enclosed in single quotation marks.

  A numeric value also can be assigned to a variable as a counter. The number of digits is initially set to 00000 as a default. When 99999 is reached, the value resets to 00000. The default digits can be changed with the SET statement. For example, SET number = 01 establishes a two-digit counter that, at 99, resets to 00. An example follows:

  SET NUMBER = 01
  SET V1 = V2 + NUMBER

  Note

  SET does not keep track of decimals or signs.

Report output can be set as follows (all specified values must be enclosed in single quotation marks):

Example