topic Re: firstobs in SAS Programming

firstobs

Ronein — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 09:56:18 GMT

Hello

I want to create a new data set that start from observation 3 and take 4 observations.

However in the reslut I get only 2

data ttt;
input ID x;
1 10
2 20
3 30
4 40
5 50
6 60
7 70
8 80
9 90
10 100
;
run;
data new;
    set ttt(firstobs=3 obs=4);
run;

Re: firstobs

PeterClemmensen — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 10:01:25 GMT

As the Firstobs= Options Doc says: "When the FIRSTOBS= data set option specifies a starting point for processing, the OBS= data set option specifies an ending point. The two options are often used together to define a range of observations to be processed. "

Therefore, do this instead

data new;
    set ttt(firstobs=3 obs=6);
run;

Re: firstobs

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 12:08:31 GMT

obs= does not specify the number of observations to be read, but a specific observation number up to which the data is read. So you get observation #3 and observation #4.

Re: firstobs

novinosrin — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 13:05:00 GMT

Hi @Ronein Easy way to understand is

FIRSTOBS= specifies the first observation to read.

OBS= Last observation to read.

What perhaps confused you is the thought OBS = is the number of observations of read however it is the last observation to read. Also, FirstOBs should never be greater than Obs at all times. Hope this helps