topic merging issue in SAS Procedures

merging issue

C0003 — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 18:31:39 GMT

Hi! I am a new-ish SAS user. I am trying to do a one-to-many data merge with two files in my work folder. However, I keep getting this error:

ERROR: Variable Type has been defined as both character and numeric.

However, the varaibles are exactly the same:

Name: NUMBER

Length: 8

Format: Best12

Informat: 12

Type: Numeric

I have tried multiplying NUMBER by one to be sure it is numeric or to see if it needed a reset of sorts, but that did not work

my sas code is this:

/* Sorting data and merging */
proc sort data = A; by NUMBER;
run;
proc sort data = B; by NUMBER;
run;
/*One to many data merge - NUMBER is numeric */
data Merged_A_B;
merge A (in = aaa) B (in = bbb);
by NUMBER;
if aaa*bbb = 0 then delete;
run;

I am thinking it may be how I am merging and I have looked online for help but was not able to find it. Help with this would be much appreciated!

Re: merging issue

Reeza — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 19:15:05 GMT

Post your log and a proc contents for both data sets.

Do you have any other variables that might have the same name in both data sets but different types?

Re: merging issue

Astounding — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 20:29:29 GMT

This message is actually very specific. There is no problem with the variable named NUMBER. Rather, you have a variable named TYPE that is numeric in one of the data sets and character in the other.

Re: merging issue

PGStats — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 21:30:42 GMT

You could replace the whole thing wth a single proc SQL step :

proc sql;
create table Merged_A_B as
select A.number, A.type,
	/* other variables from A. or from B. */
from A inner join B on A.number=B.number;
quit;

Re: merging issue

C0003 — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 12:26:31 GMT

Thank you! This was the issue. I was able to correct it and it runs perfectly. Thanks again!!