topic Re: Warning message in SAS Procedures

Warning message

Loko — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 20:38:38 GMT

Dear All,

Could you please explain the reason for receiving the Warning message (SAS 9.2):

character expression will be truncated when assigned to character column

when running the below code (which seems to execute correctly). The issue is that I have a macro that looks also for warnings and returns some messages which determines some future checks therefore the goal is not to have either warnings or errors in the code.

If the update is run in a data step the warning is not return, but I'd prefer the sql approach since the table might have integrity constraints defined.

data a;

infile datalines missover;

input a :$7. b $7.;

datalines;

1234123

2345234

4321432

;

run;

proc sql;

update a

set b=transtrn(a,substr(a,3,5),'aaaaa')

/*set b=substr(a,1,2)||'aaaaa' */

where a is not missing;

quit;

10x,

Loko

Re: Warning message

stat_sas — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 21:04:56 GMT

Hi,

If we don't assign length of a variable generated as a result of transtrn function the default length will be 200 bytes. As b is defined with length 7 bytes and value assigned to it through "set b=transtrn(a,substr(a,3,5),'aaaaa') " will be assumed as 200 bytes long. This will generate warning. Try this one to validate.

Regards,

Naeem

data a;
infile datalines missover;
input a :$7. b $7. c $200.;
datalines;
1234123
2345234
4321432
;
run;

proc sql;
update a
set c=transtrn(a,substr(a,3,5),'aaaaa')

/*set b=substr(a,1,2)||'aaaaa' */
where a is not missing;
quit;

Re: Warning message

Loko — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 21:30:33 GMT

Hello Naeem,

Unfortunately I can not change the length of the variable since the table has already been created and the structure is long before defined; my only goal is to

update the value of this field.

It is not the matter only of the transtrn function . The commented code (the ones using the concatenation ) also generates the same warning.

It seems like proc sql does not perceive the variable as already defined and it returns a result with a length of 200 bytes which then squeezes within the variable?

Re: Warning message

Anotherdream — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 21:50:55 GMT

I don't get an error message when your exact code given is run, can you output your log by chance?

Re: Warning message

stat_sas — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 00:40:16 GMT

Hi Loko,

You don't need to change the length of variable to 200. This is just a warning that if the values are greater than 7 then it will be truncated. You will get right values in your b variable becasue it is taking only 7 characters which is alright with the defined length of 7.

Regards,

Naeem

Re: Warning message

Ksharp — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 07:01:49 GMT

You can change the length of variable without changing the table structure .

proc sql;

alter table work.have;

modify c char(200) ;

quit;

Xia Keshan

Re: Warning message

Loko — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 07:58:34 GMT

Unfortunately, the changing of the table structure is not a solution, but since the expression returns a 200 bytes value then I use the input

function which eliminates the Warning message.

Anyway, coming back to the initial issue, don't you think the warning doesn't have to appear in such caese?

10x,

Re: Warning message

Tom — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 17:56:38 GMT

So if the length of the target variable is known then use that to truncate the value that is being passed.

For example if the variable C is defined with length of 7 then you could

Change : c=transtrn(a,substr(a,3,5),'aaaaa')

To : c=substrn(transtrn(a,substr(a,3,5),'aaaaa'),1,7)

Re: Warning message

Patrick — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 02:33:20 GMT

Tom provided already a solution for the SQL syntax.

"I'd prefer the sql approach since the table might have integrity constraints defined"

With a data step using MODIFY will allow you to change the table in place (instead of re-creating it) and though the table structure inclusive any indexes, constraints, audit trails & generation data sets will be maintained.

data a;

infile datalines truncover dlm=' ' dsd;

input a :$7. b :$7. c :$200.;

datalines;

1234123 1 1

2345234 2 2

3 3

4321432 4 4

;

run;

proc sql;

create index a

on a (a);

quit;

data a;

modify a;

where not missing(a);

b=substr(a,1,2)||'aaaaa';

replace;

run;

proc contents data=a;

run;quit;

Re: Warning message

stat_sas — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 01:01:51 GMT

data a;
infile datalines missover;
input a :$7. b $7.;
datalines;
1234123
2345234
4321432
;
run;
proc sql;
update a
set b=input(transtrn(a,substr(a,3,5),'aaaaa'),$7.)

/*set b=substr(a,1,2)||'aaaaa' */
where a is not missing;
quit;