topic _temporary_ array doesn't work if I use a variable instead of a constant as an index in SAS Programming

_temporary_ array doesn't work if I use a variable instead of a constant as an index

ubange — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 17:43:55 GMT

hi everybody,

Can someone kindly suggest me why does the following snippet work in its first part and doesn't in its second?

I'm going crazy. Thank you in advance for your appreciated help.

Marco

ps. Sas version: 9.4

*****

data try;

array hkey (0 : 5128933102) _temporary_ ;

*this part works;
hkey(5128077630)=5;
put hkey(5128077630)=;

*this part doesn't work (ERROR: Array subscript out of range);
i=5128077630;

hkey(i)=5;
put hkey(i)=;

run;

Re: _temporary_ array doesn't work if I use a variable instead of a constant as an index

Tom — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 18:44:52 GMT

Are you sure it works.

I suspect you do not have enough memory to make an array with over 5 BILLION variables in it.

Re: _temporary_ array doesn't work if I use a variable instead of a constant as an index

PeterClemmensen — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 19:02:01 GMT

Try running this example. I'm going with 101 array elements since +5B i quite memory heavy. Seems to work fine?

Can you post the full log for your original run?

data try;
   array hkey (0 : 100) _temporary_ ;

   hkey(100)=5;
   put hkey(100)=;

   i=100;
   hkey(i)=100;
   put hkey(i)=;
run;

Re: _temporary_ array doesn't work if I use a variable instead of a constant as an index

Tom — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 19:57:50 GMT

See how large an array you can make on your system.

%macro test;
%do i=1 %to 10 ;
%let upper=%sysevalf(10**&i);
%let syscc=0;
data try;
  array hkey (0 : &upper) _temporary_ ;
run;
%put &=i &=syscc &=upper;

%end;
%mend;
%test;

Re: _temporary_ array doesn't work if I use a variable instead of a constant as an index

Kurt_Bremser — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 22:39:54 GMT

Post the logs of both tests. I seriously doubt you can establish an array that eats 40 GB of RAM.