title: Import all columns from CSV as character?
body: <p>Simple question. </p>
  
  <pre><code>PROC IMPORT OUT= braw.address
  DATAFILE= "&amp;path.\address_data.csv"
  DBMS=csv REPLACE;
  GETNAMES=YES;
  
  RUN;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This statement will create the dataset columns as character <em>or</em> numeric depending on the values, which is smart, but not what I want. </p>
  
  <p>I want to import them all as character, to make for easier regex evaluation. </p>
  
  <p>Is there a simple way to do this?</p>