topic Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<" in SAS Programming

Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

sburnos — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 10:59:23 GMT

Dear Sas community,

I could not find the solution for the following problem.

For the following table, the Proc Print procedure fails to correctly assing the value of the OBs starting with symbol "<"

/* First part */

data test;
input n1 :$20. n2 :$100. ;
datalines;
1 AA
221 <AA>
441 A<A>
;run;

/* First part works correctly, but the following Proc Print fails to print Obs "<AA> */

proc print data=test2;
var n1 n2;
run;

What could be a problem?

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 11:35:09 GMT

I see no problem:

data test;
input n1 :$20. n2 :$100.;
datalines;
1 AA
221 <AA>
441 A<A>
;
run;

proc print data=test;
var n1 n2;
run;

Result:

Beob.    n1      n2

  1      1      AA  
  2      221    <AA>
  3      441    A<A>

Note that all values show as they were set in the first data step.

Could it be that your problem comes from the fact that you create dataset test, but print dataset test2?

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

sburnos — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 11:54:29 GMT

Thank you KurtBremser,

Very weird, in my case the result is the folllowing:

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:03:45 GMT

Did you copy/paste my code and run it, or run your original code with changes?

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

sburnos — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:06:54 GMT

Yes, I run your code, copied and pasted.

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

ChrisHemedinger — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:11:05 GMT

The problem is that you are using HTML output, and the value is interpreted as an HTML tag. If you output to LISTING or PDF or RTF, you'll see the values.

data test;
input n1 :$20. n2 :$100.;
encoded = htmlencode(n2);
encoded2 = urlencode(trim(n2));
datalines;
1 AA
221 <AA>
441 A<A>
;
run;

proc print data=test ;
var n1 n2 encoded encoded2;
run;

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

utrocketeng — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:11:17 GMT

for what it is worth, i was able to run your code KurtBremser successfuly.

i executed the code in SAS 9.4M4 from EnterpriseGuide 7.13HF5

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:13:49 GMT

Ha! That's why I always have "text" (listing) output activated in EG. Raw values stay as they are. And it's easier to post results into the {i} window here.

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

Rick_SAS — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:19:11 GMT

I suspect the OP is using the HTML destination, which is somehow interpreting '<A' as the beginning of an HTML tag.

I can reproduce what the OP sees when I use the ODS HTML destination, but other destinations such as LISTING and RTF print the data correctly.

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

ChrisHemedinger — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:26:05 GMT

Interpreting the HTML code is desired behavior, and is by design. It allows us to create active reports like this:

data test;
infile datalines dsd delimiter=',';
input n1 :$20. n2 :$100.;
encoded = htmlencode(n2);
encoded2 = urlencode(trim(n2));
datalines;
1, AA
221, <AA>
221, <A href="http:/communities.sas.com">ALL the answers</a>
441, A<A>
;
run;

proc print data=test ;
var n1 n2 encoded encoded2;
run;

Re: Proc Print fail for Obs starting with "<"

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:34:47 GMT

@Rick_SAS wrote:

I suspect the OP is using the HTML destination, which is somehow interpreting '<A' as the beginning of an HTML tag.

I can reproduce what the OP sees when I use the ODS HTML destination, but other destinations such as LISTING and RTF print the data correctly.

I tested a simple webpage with <AA> embedded in it. PaleMoon, Firefox and IE all interpret it as an "unknown tag" and show nothing. That is standard-conforming behaviour, IMO.