topic Re: Variables Do Not Exist in New SAS User

Variables Do Not Exist

annwashburn — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 05:14:21 GMT

I'm currently getting the error message that says the file I'm trying to call in does not exist. As you can see from my screenshot, there is output.

However, in the screen print below it's stating that the variables do not exist. What am I doing wrong? I've never had this problem before.

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:07:30 GMT

Run a PROC CONTENTS immediately after the PROC IMPORT to see the variable names.

Hint: set

options validvarname=v7;

before the import to avoid "iffy" names.

Or edit the first row of the spreadsheet before you import it.

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

Patrick — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:13:00 GMT

For your last screenshot: Can you please run this code in a new SAS session with the import step you've got and then add:

proc contents data=work.bodyfat;
quit;
proc univariate data=bodyfat plot;
  var age weight height;
run;

If the import step runs without errors and the proc contents lists variables age, weight and height then the proc plot just must work.

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

annwashburn — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:43:47 GMT

I tried your suggestion.

However, I still got the same error. The variables are not populating in the output.

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

annwashburn — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:50:35 GMT

My problem still remains. The variables are not populating in the output. Again, I've never had this problem.

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:54:12 GMT

Where is the output of PROC CONTENTS?

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

annwashburn — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 08:05:54 GMT

Attached is the code I used:

Below is the output:

Then the code stops processing....

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 08:17:51 GMT

As you can see, there are leading underlines in the variable names. This points to special characters being present in the spreadsheet. Use the names (not the labels!) as shown, or correct the header row in the spreadsheet before importing.

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

Tom — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 13:51:50 GMT

You can see the problem in your screen shot.

Notice the horizontal position of the letter C in the variable 'Case Number'n .

Then notice that the first visible letter in the other variable names is slightly shifted to the right for the other variables.

Run PROC CONTENTS and create a DATASET with the variable names. Then use the NLITERAL() function to generate strings you can use to reference those strange variable names.

proc contents data=bodyfat out=contents; run;

data _null_;
  set contents;
  nliteral=nliteral(name);
  put nliteral name=$quote. label=$quote.;
run;

Then copy and paste the name literal strings from the SAS log into your VAR statement.

Re: Variables Do Not Exist

annwashburn — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:46:37 GMT

I corrected the column headers in Excel, reloaded the file and now I'm good to GO!! Thanks!