topic Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option? in SAS Programming

Does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

Nietzsche — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 09:54:00 GMT

Hello, I don't understand why SAS runs fine when I run the following code with drop option before the stat keywords mean and std and gives me the desired result.

proc means data=sashelp.cars (drop=origin) mean std;
run;

But when I follow the book's syntax order and put the DROP option after the stat keywords, it crashes


proc means data=sashelp.cars mean std (drop=origin);
run;

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

ger15xxhcker — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 23:15:38 GMT

The order in which you specify the options in PROC MEANS matters. When you specify the DROP option before the stat keywords MEAN and STD, the SAS compiler is aware that you want to drop the ORIGIN variable from the calculation of the MEAN and STD. However, when you specify the DROP option after the stat keywords, the SAS compiler does not recognize it, therefore it crashes.

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

SASKiwi — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 23:24:02 GMT

DROP = is a dataset OPTION and must immediately follow the dataset it applies to inside brackets. The PROC MEANS statement has its own options. They don't require brackets and can be specified in any order after PROC MEANS.

Also SAS has not crashed. All that has happened is SAS has stopped running the MEANS step because of the syntax error.

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

Nietzsche — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 23:23:17 GMT

Does that mean the book got the order of the syntax wrong?

it looks like it that way from the documentation on PROC MEANS

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

Nietzsche — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 23:31:50 GMT

The PROC MEANS statement has its own options. They don't require brackets and can be specified in any order after PROC MEANS.

yeah they do require parentheses, otherwise SAS will give an error, and I just given an example that shows order DOES matter.

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

SASKiwi — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 23:35:45 GMT

No, you also need to look at the documentation covering DATASET OPTIONS

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

SASKiwi — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 23:38:43 GMT

You are confusing DATASET OPTIONS - brackets required - and PROCEDURE OPTIONS - no brackets required. See the documentation link in my earlier response.

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

Nietzsche — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 23:56:08 GMT

You are confusing DATASET OPTIONS - brackets required - and PROCEDURE OPTIONS - no brackets required. See the documentation link in my earlier response.

I really have no idea that you're talking about. if you could come up with examples using the sashelp.cars so I can understand what you're trying to convey.

And () are called parenthesis, [] are brackets, do you mean () outside the drop option?

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

SASKiwi — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 00:31:22 GMT

Hopefully this documentation link will help.

A DATASET option example:

proc print data = sashelp.class (drop = age); * Dataset option;
run;

proc print data = sashelp.class label; * procedure statement option;
run;

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

Tom — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 00:45:14 GMT

There is no DROP option on the PROC MEANS statement. Read the manual.

Your code does not include any DROP option anyway.

The working example is using the DROP= dataset option.

The failed code is an example of misplaced set of dataset options.

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

Kurt_Bremser — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 06:19:32 GMT

DROP= is a dataset option, and therefore an integral part of the DATA= procedure option. You must not separate dataset options from their dataset name. Keep in mind that a single statement may have multiple options naming datasets (e.g. DATA=, OUT=, DUPOUT= in a PROC SORT), and it must be clear which dataset options belong to which dataset.

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

Kurt_Bremser — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 06:22:17 GMT

() are round brackets, [] are square brackets, and {} curly brackets (https://www.englishclub.com/writing/punctuation-brackets.htm).

Re: Does does SAS crash when I change the order of the Drop option?

Nietzsche — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 22:33:21 GMT

() are round brackets, [] are square brackets, and {} curly brackets (https://www.englishclub.com/writing/punctuation-brackets.htm).

okay, in other programming communities, like python, they call () strictly parenthesis and [] brackets to avoid confusion when making list and tuples.