topic Re: Data Step By Statement Sorting Failure in SAS Programming

Data Step By Statement Sorting Failure

KaiBasch — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 14:16:50 GMT

Dear experts,

I'm trying to sort a column which has records like 'AA0276', 'A2B5Q', 'AB8ER', ...

After I sort the data, I'm running a data step and use the sorted column in a by statement.

The data step returns a ERROR which indicates that the by variable couldn't sorted for the values like 'AA0276' which have two consequent character values.

ERROR: Error: BY variables are not properly sorted.

How can I fix this problem?

Re: Data Step By Statement Sorting Failure

PeterClemmensen — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 14:27:53 GMT

If SAS says that your data is not sorted by that variable, it is not.

Post some sample data and your code.

Re: Data Step By Statement Sorting Failure

KaiBasch — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 14:49:37 GMT

Yes, that's obvious from the log but if you read my 2nd sentence you would see that I've sorted the data (using Proc Sort), it is sorted.

Re: Data Step By Statement Sorting Failure

Astounding — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 14:47:03 GMT

You'll have to post the log. I can think of several possibilities, but I'm not about to explain them all in detail just in case one of them matches the situation you are encountering.

Re: Data Step By Statement Sorting Failure

Reeza — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 15:46:49 GMT

@KaiBasch wrote:

Yes, that's obvious from the log but if you read my 2nd sentence you would see that I've sorted the data (using Proc Sort), it is sorted.

Post your full code and log. Obviously SAS doesn't think the data set is sorted for some reason.