topic Re: Indicate the first record in a data set in SAS Programming https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155961#M30497 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Thanks Paige.</P><P></P><P>Paul</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 25 Mar 2014 17:20:53 GMT Paul_NYS 2014-03-25T17:20:53Z Indicate the first record in a data set https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155958#M30494 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Hi</P><P>In processing a data step, is there a way to indicate the first record in an overall data set? I know using 'first' works to indicate the first grouping of a certain combination of variables, but I am wondering about the entire data set.</P><P></P><P>Paul</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:00:15 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155958#M30494 Paul_NYS 2014-03-25T16:00:15Z Re: Indicate the first record in a data set https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155959#M30495 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>The predefined variable _n_ will have the value 1 for the first record in a data set</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:18:39 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155959#M30495 PaigeMiller 2014-03-25T16:18:39Z Re: Indicate the first record in a data set https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155960#M30496 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>If your datastep involves reading a single dataset then testing <STRONG>_N_=1</STRONG> will signal the first datastep iteration. Otherwise, using the <STRONG>INDSNAME=myVariable</STRONG> option in the SET statement will give you a dataset name to compare with the previous iteration (<STRONG>IF myVariable ne lag(myVariable)</STRONG>) to detect the fiirst observation from each new dataset, including the first one.</P><P></P><P>PG</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:31:29 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155960#M30496 PGStats 2014-03-25T16:31:29Z Re: Indicate the first record in a data set https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155961#M30497 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Thanks Paige.</P><P></P><P>Paul</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 25 Mar 2014 17:20:53 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155961#M30497 Paul_NYS 2014-03-25T17:20:53Z Re: Indicate the first record in a data set https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155962#M30498 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Thanks PG. I have one data set, but that is good to know for the future.</P><P></P><P>Paul</P></BODY></HTML> Tue, 25 Mar 2014 17:21:25 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/Indicate-the-first-record-in-a-data-set/m-p/155962#M30498 Paul_NYS 2014-03-25T17:21:25Z