topic Re: proc sql - syntax error in SAS Programming

proc sql - syntax error

vraj1 — Sat, 15 Jun 2019 09:55:26 GMT

proc sql noprint;
select distinct strip(VARIABLE) into :commonrs separated by ', ' ,
distinct strip(VARIABLE) into :commonvrg separated by ' '
from COMMON;
quit;

I am using the above code, just to make sure before sending test data as i get syntax error, can anyone help me figure out where the issue was.

distinct strip(VARIABLE) into :commonvarsmrg separated by ' ' from COMMON;
--------
79
76

ERROR 79-322: Expecting a :.

ERROR 76-322: Syntax error, statement will be ignored.

Re: proc sql - syntax error

PaigeMiller — Sat, 15 Jun 2019 10:36:07 GMT

You can only use DISTINCT once, it applies to all variables.

Also,

select distinct strip(VARIABLE1),strip(VARIABLE2)
    into :commonrs separated by ', ' ,:commonvrg separated by ' '
from COMMON;

Re: proc sql - syntax error

ErikLund_Jensen — Sat, 15 Jun 2019 10:37:02 GMT

Hi @vraj1

Select and into are separate statements, each with a variable list, so the correct syntax should be:

proc sql noprint;
	select distinct
		strip(VARIABLE),
		strip(VARIABLE)
	into 
		:commonrs separated by ', ' ,
		:commonvrg separated by ' '
	from COMMON;
quit;