topic Re: Difficulty with the SPEDIS function in SAS Programming

Difficulty with the SPEDIS function

ManitobaMoose — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 19:22:10 GMT

Hi,

This is copied directly from Learning SAS by Example. My understanding is that when there is an exact match, the value should be 0, and that it increases the further away a match is. However, the results I am getting show a value of 137 for all the inputs except for Alfred, which is 166. Also, the lock says that the variable Friedman is unitiialized, whatever that means?

Any suggestions on why I am getting values of 137, and also what a variable that is unitialized means?

Thanks!

Here is the code:

------------------------

Data fuzzy ;

input Name $20. ;

Value = spedis(Name,‘Friedman’) ;

datalines ;

Friedman

Freedman

Xriedman

Freidman

Alfred

FRIEDMAN

;

Here are the results

-------------------------

Name Value Friedman

Friedman 137 .

Freedman 137 .

Xriedman 137 .

Freidman 137 .

Alfred 166 .

FRIEDMAN 137 .

Re: Difficulty with the SPEDIS function

Astounding — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 19:35:07 GMT

The quotes you have around "Friedman" within the function are not true quotes ... they are some similar character. Try deleting them, and re-typing the quotes, then re-run.

Re: Difficulty with the SPEDIS function

ballardw — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 19:37:25 GMT

The code you posted will not run.

This line

Value = spedis(Name,‘Friedman’) ;

has "smart quotes", the curly version instead of a simple '

After correcting that error when I run your code I get

Name	Value
Friedman	0
Freedman	12
Xriedman	25
Freidman	6
Alfred	100
FRIEDMAN	87

So there may be something else going on.

Re: Difficulty with the SPEDIS function

Reeza — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 19:42:41 GMT

Use the code from the provided files or type it out. You're likely getting these errors by copying the code from a PDF file or EPUB file I assume...assuming a legal version. I've seen illegal versions in Doc files but I'm assuming you're using a legal version.

Re: Difficulty with the SPEDIS function

ManitobaMoose — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 20:33:16 GMT

Hi,

Thanks for looking at this. I did remove the quotes, but I am still getting the error with the same results. Below is the Text, and then the log:

CODE:

Data fuzzy ;

input Name $20. ;

Value = spedis(Name,Friedman) ;

datalines ;

Friedman

Freedman

Xriedman

Freidman

Alfred

FRIEDMAN

;

LOG:

62 Data fuzzy ;

63 input Name $20. ;

64 Value = spedis(Name,Friedman) ;

65 datalines ;

NOTE: Numeric values have been converted to character values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).

64:22

NOTE: Variable Friedman is uninitialized.

NOTE: The data set WORK.FUZZY has 6 observations and 3 variables.

NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):

real time 0.00 seconds

cpu time 0.00 seconds

Re: Difficulty with the SPEDIS function

ManitobaMoose — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 20:36:53 GMT

OK. Now I got it to work. What are smart quotes vs simple quotes? Thanks!

Re: Difficulty with the SPEDIS function

ballardw — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 20:54:34 GMT

@ManitobaMoose wrote:

OK. Now I got it to work. What are smart quotes vs simple quotes? Thanks!

Smart quotes are for word processing to make a start/end pair of smbols around the words look pretty like in typeset books.

The simple quote, in this case, is the programming language text identifier a value between ' ' or " " is treated as text value

(except for the things like date and name literals which have an ending character pair like 'd 'dt "n and such).

Programming languages are build with limits, spell things right or get an error, use the correct symbol or get an error, end the statement correctly or get an error....

Follow the syntax rules to get the desired results.