topic Re: What is the value of cnt in the statement? in SAS Programming

What is the value of cnt in the statement?

GN0001 — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 23:22:46 GMT

Hello team,

I have inherited a code that I run on a monthly basis.

data mydata;

set mydata1 where (keep this that datatime where=(datepart(datetime) >= "01012021"

mydata2 (keep=datetime fileNum);

cnt = 1;

date1 = datepart(datetime);

datemount = put(date1, yymmn6.);

if datemount > "202201" then output;

run;

proc summary nway missing data =mydata;

var cnt;

........

run;

on the first statement? Does cnt becomes 1 when the first time SAS reads the first record and then it becomes 2 on the second row since SAS reads sequentially.

What is the value of cnt on the second statement? Is it incremented?

Can anyone please kindly explain it to me?

Regards,

BlueBerry

Re: What is the value of cnt in the statement?

Tom — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 02:22:46 GMT

What is the value of cnt in the statement?

Since the code sets CNT to one on every observations that means the variable cnt will have one on every observation.

But another way to interpret that questions is

What value does the CNT variable add to this code

It kind of depends on what you are using PROC SUMMARY to do in that last step. But it does not look like it is adding any value. Let's do a simple test using SASHELP.CLASS.

proc summary data=sashelp.class;
 output out=want;
run;

proc print data=want;
run;

data class;
 set sashelp.class;
 cnt=1;
run;

proc summary data=class;
  var cnt;
  output out=want;
run;

proc print data=want;
run;

The only useful statistic is the count of observations that the _FREQ_ variable already provided.

Re: What is the value of cnt in the statement?

pink_poodle — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 03:10:12 GMT

It seems that variable cnt is a vestige. It is a counter that was not fully enacted. To make it work, for example, by counting the number of outputted observations with datemount > “202221”, you would need to put it in a do-loop like instead of “then output” write
…then do;
Output;
Cnt + 1;
End;
The top condition would make more sense with cnt = 0, or the counter will show one more observation.

Re: What is the value of cnt in the statement?

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 05:30:56 GMT

Your code won't run anyway because of syntax errors:

set mydata1 where (keep this that datatime where=(datepart(datetime) >= "01012021"
mydata2 (keep=datetime fileNum);

You have four opening, but only two closing brackets.

Do you really want to include a dataset named "WHERE"?

The result of DATEPART is a number, so comparing it to a string won't work.