topic Can some one please help me with editing a data file? in SAS Programming

Can some one please help me with editing a data file?

acb07010 — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 18:26:56 GMT

Hello,

I merged two data files from the CDC's NHIS 2012 data files ( the adult and disability files). The merge was successful however I cannot do anything with the merged data file to edit the data. I can print out the data and run freqs and means but I can not change any of the variables. For example, when I try to recode a variable or create a new variable, SAS deletes all of the variables in the data set and or says that the variable is uninitialized. If anyone can lend a hand I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!!!

Re: Can some one please help me with editing a data file?

Tom — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 18:40:15 GMT

Sounds like you are forgetting to pull in the data, like you are missing the SET statement.

data want ;

set old;

newvar = oldvar/10;

run;

Re: Can some one please help me with editing a data file?

acb07010 — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 23:36:22 GMT

thank so much for replying ....however i did use the set command to set the permanent merged file i created to a temporary file. This is what I had in my code:

LIBNAME nhisproj "P:\Project";

DATA nhisproj.NHIS2012perm;

set TMP1.NHIScombined2;

KEEP SEX RACERPI2 AFD_FLG DOINGLWA AGE_P BMI

FLA1AR MOB_2R MOB_3F

FLSOCL

AFLHCA18 AFLHCA17 UB_SS

AFLHCA13 ALHCA14A AFLHCA15; /*Subset variables*/

RUN;

PROC PRINT DATA=NHISproj.NHIS2012perm; /*Print the small subset*/

RUN;

and this works fine but then when i try to do anything with the variables like recode them or create new variables it does not work.

Re: Can some one please help me with editing a data file?

Patrick — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 23:50:25 GMT

The KEEP statement applies to the output data set (nhisproj.NHIS2012perm). So make sure that any new variable you create is listed in the KEEP statement.

I suggest that you omit the KEEP statement while you're developing code.

Re: Can some one please help me with editing a data file?

pronabesh — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 21:05:12 GMT

You have created a permanent SAS file called NHISproj.NHIS2012perm.

Make sure when you perform data transformation you assign the correct permanent SAS path:

data NHISproj.NHIS2012perm;

set NHISproj.NHIS2012perm;

< transformation code >;

run;

Re: Can some one please help me with editing a data file?

pronabesh — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 21:06:15 GMT

Also, did you see any error in the SAS log?

Re: Can some one please help me with editing a data file?

ballardw — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 22:37:48 GMT

I recommend that you NOT reuse the input and output data for this if you are recoding actual values of original variables as you'll end up having to redownload/combine data if you make an error.

I have seen this done to a data set reducing the number of categories such as:

if x>4 then x=4;

Else if x in (3,4) then x=2;

else if x =2 then x=0;

While modifying code affecting other variables and making changes, the value of X eventually becomes 0 or 1 when it should be 0,1,2 or 4.

Better is to

Data newrecodes;

set basedata;

run;

Also, Formats are often much more effecient for many grouping tasks than creating new variables.

Re: Can some one please help me with editing a data file?

art297 — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 22:42:34 GMT

I think you will get better advice if you post the code that isn't doing what you expect.