topic Re: what the " 'n " means? in SAS Programming

what the " 'n " means?

GeorgeSAS — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 13:40:02 GMT

Please help me understand the " 'n " means:

proc sql;

CREATE TABLE WORK."Count_ABC_Per_AAAAAAAA "n AS

select "AAA" AS 'COUNT DISTINCT_of_AAA'n from sashelp.class;

quit;

There are two " 'n " ,one in the dataset's name ,another in proc sql select statement.

Thanks!

Re: what the " 'n " means?

r_behata — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 13:54:07 GMT

As per SAS Documentation :

"Definition of SAS Name Literals :

A SAS name literal is a name token that is expressed as a string within quotation marks, followed by the upper- or lowercase letter n. Most SAS names allow only the characters _, A–Z, and a–z. Name literals enable you to use characters (including blanks and national characters) that are not otherwise allowed."

More Info :

http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/lrcon/62955/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a000780334.htm#a002154623

Re: what the " 'n " means?

GeorgeSAS — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 14:18:18 GMT

Thank you!

But It works only in SAS EG, but it does not works in SAS base, here is the code:

PROC SQL;
   CREATE TABLE "My Table"n AS 
   SELECT 1 as "this is"n from sashelp.class;
QUIT;

*error in SAS base:; *ERROR: The value MY TABLE is not a valid SAS name.; *ERROR: The value this is is not a valid SAS name.;

Thanks!

Re: what the " 'n " means?

yabwon — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 14:20:12 GMT

Hi,

you need to add:

options 
  validvarname=ANY /* for variables*/
  validmemname=EXTEND /* for datasets */
;

All the best

Bart

Re: what the " 'n " means?

GeorgeSAS — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 14:23:38 GMT

Thank you very much!