I thought that this was a rather interesting solution to Setting variable value based on value of another variable.

The Data we have is this:

DATA Temp;
Input Var200203 Var200204 Var200205 VarLookUp $11.;
DataLines;
1 2 3 Var200203
5 6 7 Var200204
3 6 9 Var200205
;
RUN;

We want to end up with VarOut which is the value of the lookup column for that observation:

Var200203 Var200204 Var200205 VarLookUp VarOut
1                 2             3             Var200203     1
5                 6             7             Var200204     6
3                 6             9             Var200205     9

The solution:

While the vname function is comparatively expensive, it’s helpful here.
One additional data line added to test with unexpected data.

DATA Temp;
Input Var200203 Var200204 Var200205 VarLookUp $11.;
DataLines;
1 2 3 Var200203
5 6 7 Var200204
3 6 9 Var200205
3 6 9 Var200206
;
data done ( drop = _: ); set temp; array vars var2: ; do _i = 1 to dim(vars) until (vname(vars(_i)) = varlookup) ; end; if _i le dim(vars) then varout = vars(_i); run;

proc print data=done;
run;

 

Result:

The SAS System                      09:21 Thursday, July 31, 2003   1

Obs    Var200203    Var200204    Var200205    VarLookUp    varout

1         1                2                    3                Var200203       1
2         5                6                    7                Var200204       6
3         3                6                    9                Var200205       9
4         3                6                    9                Var200206       .

I have a feeling this code will be helpful for me in the upcoming year.