https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875814#M38854 <P>Hi,&nbsp;</P><P>When I ran the code I got error message in log, what does it mean by variable contains more than 32 bytes. Any solutions are highly appreciated. Thank you.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><PRE>data project2;<BR />set project1;<BR />state_marijuana_legal_status1=state_marijuana_legal_status; <BR />if followUp=2 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01JUL2020"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />if followUp=5 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01DEC2020"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />if followUp=7 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01MAY2021"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />if followUp=8 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01SEP2021"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />if followUp=10 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01MAR2022"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />run;</PRE><DIV class="">&nbsp;</DIV><DIV class=""><STRONG>I got this error message in my log:</STRONG></DIV><DIV class="">&nbsp;</DIV><DIV class="">1 OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;</DIV><DIV class="">68</DIV><DIV class="">69 data project2;</DIV><DIV class="">70 set project1;</DIV><DIV class="">71 state_marijuana_legal_status1=state_marijuana_legal_status;</DIV><DIV class="">72 if followUp=2 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01JUL2020"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">73 if followUp=5 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01DEC2020"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">74 if followUp=7 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01MAY2021"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">75 if followUp=8 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01SEP2021"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">76 if followUp=10 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01MAR2022"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">77 run;</DIV> Mon, 15 May 2023 13:47:07 GMT Dawa93 2023-05-15T13:47:07Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875814#M38854 <P>Hi,&nbsp;</P><P>When I ran the code I got error message in log, what does it mean by variable contains more than 32 bytes. Any solutions are highly appreciated. Thank you.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><PRE>data project2;<BR />set project1;<BR />state_marijuana_legal_status1=state_marijuana_legal_status; <BR />if followUp=2 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01JUL2020"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />if followUp=5 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01DEC2020"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />if followUp=7 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01MAY2021"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />if followUp=8 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01SEP2021"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />if followUp=10 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01MAR2022"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;<BR />run;</PRE><DIV class="">&nbsp;</DIV><DIV class=""><STRONG>I got this error message in my log:</STRONG></DIV><DIV class="">&nbsp;</DIV><DIV class="">1 OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;</DIV><DIV class="">68</DIV><DIV class="">69 data project2;</DIV><DIV class="">70 set project1;</DIV><DIV class="">71 state_marijuana_legal_status1=state_marijuana_legal_status;</DIV><DIV class="">72 if followUp=2 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01JUL2020"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">73 if followUp=5 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01DEC2020"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">74 if followUp=7 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01MAY2021"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">75 if followUp=8 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01SEP2021"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">76 if followUp=10 and date_recreational_marijuana_legalized &gt; "01MAR2022"d then state_marijuana_legal_status1=1;</DIV><DIV class="">ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes.</DIV><DIV class="">77 run;</DIV> Mon, 15 May 2023 13:47:07 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875814#M38854 Dawa93 2023-05-15T13:47:07Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875815#M38855 <P>The variable name in your code,&nbsp;date_recreational_marijuana_legalized, is longer than 32 characters.&nbsp; This is not allowed in SAS datasets, therefore this variable cannot exist in work.project1.&nbsp; Suggest running PROC CONTENTS on work.project1 to check the variable name.</P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P>This (poorly worded) error message is about the variable name, not data in the variable.&nbsp; You can generate it with:</P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <PRE>1 data _null_ ; 2 date_recreational_marijuana_legalized=1 ; ERROR: The variable named date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes. 3 run ; NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors. </PRE> <P>I think maybe the error message is intended to be "ERROR: The variable name&nbsp;date_recreational_marijuana_legalized contains more than 32 bytes."&nbsp; So <EM>name</EM>, not <EM>named</EM>.</P> Mon, 15 May 2023 13:56:06 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875815#M38855 Quentin 2023-05-15T13:56:06Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875816#M38856 <P>The names of variables in SAS is limited to 32 characters.</P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P>You are attempting to use/create variables with names longer than that. Since SAS won't let you create such then you need to check your data set to check the actual spelling.</P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P>Shorten the name of the variable to the 32 or fewer characters actually in the set Project1. If you don't actually know the names then run:</P> <PRE>Proc contents data=project1; run;</PRE> <P>to show the names and properties of the variables.</P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P>Personally the number of variables that I create with names longer than 16 characters are few and far between as I am too lazy to type that stuff hundreds of times.</P> Mon, 15 May 2023 13:56:16 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875816#M38856 ballardw 2023-05-15T13:56:16Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875823#M38857 Thank you!! It worked after shortening the name of the variable. Mon, 15 May 2023 14:13:38 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875823#M38857 Dawa93 2023-05-15T14:13:38Z https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875824#M38858 Thank you!! It worked after shortening the name of variable. Mon, 15 May 2023 14:13:47 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/New-SAS-User/To-solve-the-error-message-in-the-log/m-p/875824#M38858 Dawa93 2023-05-15T14:13:47Z