Using non-indexed merge and RETAIN to propagate a string literal down all rows

enginemane44 — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 19:09:30 GMT

SAS-Ler's

I'm trying to use a non-indexed merge (no BY statement) to pull together two data sets. One is a one-observation data set with 5 variables that are string literals (constants); the other is a more traditional data set

with several observations and variables. All variables are character.

Here is what I have so far :

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Have1 data set 14:46 Wednesday, July 2, 2014 1

Obs desc1 desc2 desc3

                                                     1       one          cold       wet
                                                     2       two          warm      wet
                                                     3       three       cold        dry
                                                     4       four         warm      dry

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have2 data set 14:46 Wednesday, July 2, 2014 2

Obs lit1 lit2 lit3 lit4 lit5

1 category1 category2 category3 category4 category5

I'm using this statement to combine the data sets, using a MERGE statement with RETAIN :

data all;

length lit1$ 32 lit2$ 32 lit3$ 32 lit4$ 32 lit5$ 32;

retain lit1--lit5; /* <--- This should keep the lit varables from being reset to missing */

merge have1 have2;

run;

This is what I get for the merged data set :

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Merged data set 14:46 Wednesday, July 2, 2014 3

Obs lit1 lit2 lit3 lit4 lit5 desc1 desc2 desc3

                    1     category1    category2    category3    category4    category5    one      cold      wet
                    2                                                                                                                two      warm      wet
                    3                                                                                                                three    cold      dry
                    4                                                                                                                four     warm      dry

What I want is for all lthe 'lit' variables to be non-missing in the merged data set :

Obs lit1 lit2 lit3 lit4 lit5 desc1 desc2 desc3

1 category1 category2 category3 category4 category5 one cold wet

2 category1 category2 category3 category4 category5 two warm wet

3 category1 category2 category3 category4 category5 three cold dry

4 category1 category2 category3 category4 category5 four warm dry

I tried altering the merge statement by adding a set statement :

data all;

length lit1$ 32 lit2$ 32 lit3$ 32 lit4$ 32 lit5$ 32;

retain lit1--lit5;

merge have1(in=a) have2(in=b);

if not b then set have2;

run;

But this created a data set with only two observations (although the 'lit' variables were propogated from the first obs to the second).

Any ideas ? I have a feeling the solution may require an 'IF _N_=1 THEN...' statement or use of an array.

Thanks in advance.

Barry Walton

Re: Using non-indexed merge and RETAIN to propagate a string literal down all rows

stat_sas — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 19:35:42 GMT

Try this.

data all;

if _n_=1 then set have2;

set have1;

run;

topic Using non-indexed merge and RETAIN to propagate a string literal down all rows in SAS Programming

Using non-indexed merge and RETAIN to propagate a string literal down all rows

Re: Using non-indexed merge and RETAIN to propagate a string literal down all rows