topic Re: What would be the result and why? in SAS Programming

What would be the result and why?

Nipun22 — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 14:06:25 GMT

Assume that Sasuser.One does not exist and that the following SAS program is submitted at the beginning of a new SAS session:

data sasuser.one;
x=1;
y=27;
output one;
run;

Re: What would be the result and why?

PaigeMiller — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 14:39:18 GMT

You can find out what the result is by running the program. That will give you a quicker answer than by coming here and asking.

Then if you read the log, you can see the problem. Actually, there are two problems shown in the log. You cannot create a data set in library SASUSER, it is locked, it is read-only and nothing can be written to that library. You also have a data step error, the OUTPUT data set (ONE) is not the name of the DATA set you are trying to create (SASUSER.ONE). These two names must be the same.

For example, this works:

data one;
x=1;
y=27;
output one;
run;

Now the output data set is the same as the name of the data set you are creating. This is required.

Even simpler:

data one;
x=1;
y=27;
run;

You don't need to use the OUTPUT command in his situation. There are other situations where OUTPUT is required.

Re: What would be the result and why?

ballardw — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 14:45:34 GMT

SASUSER in a single machine install is writable and is where the users Profile settings are kept for SAS Display Manager.

It is not a good idea to place user data sets there if writable in your install as update processes may replace the library or its contents.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Nipun22 — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 15:15:56 GMT

yep that would obviously will cause an error but there must be some kind of output. so what is the logic behind that? my question is that only

Re: What would be the result and why?

Tom — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 15:39:24 GMT

Not sure I understand what your question is. There is no "output" because the step will not run because of the error.

You can see this when you look at the LOG.

1    data sasuser.one;
2    x=1;
3    y=27;
4    output one;
            ---
            455
ERROR 455-185: Data set was not specified on the DATA statement.

5    run;

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
WARNING: The data set SASUSER.ONE may be incomplete.  When this step was
         stopped there were 0 observations and 2 variables.
WARNING: Data set SASUSER.ONE was not replaced because this step was stopped.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.02 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

My log has that extra warning about not replacing the dataset because I already had a dataset with that name from 4 years ago.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Nipun22 — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 15:40:30 GMT

I already mentioned that assume that sasuser.one dataset doesn't exist.

the result will be an output dataset work.one with the variables x and y with 0 observations and wanna know why?

Re: What would be the result and why?

Tom — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 15:42:33 GMT

No. It will NOT make a dataset named ONE (which normally means WORK.ONE unless have created USER libref or used the USER= option to pick a different libref).

You can confirm by trying to look at the ONE dataset.

7    proc contents data=one; run;
ERROR: File WORK.ONE.DATA does not exist.

NOTE: Statements not processed because of errors noted above.
NOTE: PROCEDURE CONTENTS used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Tom — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 15:46:32 GMT

If you want it to make ONE then include it in the DATA statement.

Try this step instead :

data one two three;
  x=1;
  y=27;
  output one;
run;

What do you expect to happen?

Will it run?

What dataset(s) will be created?

How many observations?

8    data one two three;
9      x=1;
10     y=27;
11     output one;
12   run;

NOTE: The data set WORK.ONE has 1 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: The data set WORK.TWO has 0 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: The data set WORK.THREE has 0 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.02 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

Re: What would be the result and why?

Tom — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 16:04:42 GMT

@Nipun22 wrote:

I already mentioned that assume that sasuser.one dataset doesn't exist.
...

Whether a data step will compile and run does not depend on whether the datasets listed in the DATA statement exist or not.

The only impact if the dataset exists is that the data step will replace the existing dataset, assuming the step runs successfully.

Note: For nuances on when the dataset is not replaced but instead edited check out the MODIFY statement.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Kurt_Bremser — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 16:13:51 GMT

Maxim 4 (short version): Try It.

This happens on SAS On Demand, which is fairly typcal for current client-server setups:

 69         data sasuser.one;
 70         x=1;
 71         y=27;
 72         output one;
                   ___
                   455
 ERROR 455-185: Data set was not specified on the DATA statement.
 
 73         run;
 
 ERROR: Schreibzugriff für Member SASUSER.ONE.DATA verweigert.
 NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
 NOTE:  Verwendet wurde: DATA statement - (Gesamtverarbeitungszeit):

You can see that no dataset is created at all.

Now, if we change the target to a location where write permission is given, this happens:

 69         data home.one;
 70         x=1;
 71         y=27;
 72         output one;
                   ___
                   455
 ERROR 455-185: Data set was not specified on the DATA statement.
 
 73         run;
 
 NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
 WARNING: The data set HOME.ONE may be incomplete.  When this step was stopped there were 0 observations and 2 variables.

On inspection, there is a dataset ONE in library HOME, with two variables and no observations; no observations because no OUTPUT statement for HOME.ONE was given, and the one OUTPUT statement present in the code prevents the default OUTPUT that a DATA step usually does.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Nipun22 — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 16:27:40 GMT

this is one of the questions from the sas base practice exam.

How would I understand it then?

same code also showing access denied to the sasuser library in sas studio

Re: What would be the result and why?

Kurt_Bremser — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 17:02:14 GMT

Looks like a question from a time way back when SASUSER was writable in most installations. But if SASUSER is writable, answer b is correct for the stated reasons.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Nipun22 — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 17:10:38 GMT

sasuser library was writable in earlier times?

Re: What would be the result and why?

Kurt_Bremser — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 17:59:43 GMT

@Nipun22 wrote:
sasuser library was writable in earlier times?

Yes. It was on the mainframe where I started working with SAS, and we kept it that way when we migrated to UNIX.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Tom — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 18:15:47 GMT

@Nipun22 wrote:
sasuser library was writable in earlier times?

There is a system option for controlling that, RSASUSER, which much be specified at session start.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Tom — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 18:19:21 GMT

So it seems SAS will make the dataset(s) specified in the DATA statement (but not replace an existing one) even if the code causes a compile time error.

So the answer to the WHY? question is that SAS made a poor design decision early on and has kept it for compatibility reasons.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Tom — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 18:26:40 GMT

@Nipun22 wrote:
sasuser library was writable in earlier times?

The SASUSER library is writable now if you choose to start SAS with the NORSASUSER option. But if you are using some tool like Enterprise Guide or SAS/Studio to start your SAS sessions then that decision was made by whoever setup your application servers.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Tom — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 18:47:36 GMT

So a poorly designed question. They could have gotten to point across better by just using different member names.

Perhaps they wanted to trick you by using the same member name? If so then they tricked themselves because if you had set the system option USER to the value SASUSER then the step would run and write one observation. Because in that case the single name ONE means SASUSER.ONE instead of the normal WORK.ONE. So the OUTPUT statement is writing to the a dataset name in DATA statement.

You can see this by changing the value of the USER option, but if you session started with USER set to SASUSER you would not need the option statement.

1    options user=sasuser;
2    data sasuser.one;
3      x=1;y=2;
4      output one;
5    run;

NOTE: The data set SASUSER.ONE has 1 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

And note that it does not seem to be an EXECUTION time error. The issue is not caused by executing the OUTPUT statement. You see that by making the output statement conditional. There must be some grey area between compile time and actual execution that it is actually failing at.

1    data sasuser.one;
2      x=1;y=2;
3      if 1=0 then output one;
                          ---
                          455
ERROR 455-185: Data set was not specified on the DATA statement.

4    run;

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
WARNING: The data set SASUSER.ONE may be incomplete.  When this step was
         stopped there were 0 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

Re: What would be the result and why?

Quentin — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:14:39 GMT

Re: your side note from@Tom :

And note that it does not seem to be an EXECUTION time error. The issue is not caused by executing the OUTPUT statement. You see that by making the output statement conditional. There must be some grey area between compile time and actual execution that it is actually failing at.
1    data sasuser.one;
2      x=1;y=2;
3      if 1=0 then output one;
                          ---
                          455
ERROR 455-185: Data set was not specified on the DATA statement.

4    run;

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
WARNING: The data set SASUSER.ONE may be incomplete.  When this step was
         stopped there were 0 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

I think the step is failing at compile time. But also earlier in the compile time, SAS apparently creates the output datasets listed on the DATA statement.

Re: What would be the result and why?

Kurt_Bremser — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:35:05 GMT

What is actually created at compile time is the temporary .sas7bdat.lck file. And this file is renamed to .sas7bdat when the step terminates even in case of ERROR if no previous dataset exists.