Question about (keep=) in DATA statement

[Masande]

Hello !

I try to solve some quizzes. Considering the following data set : 

if you submit the following code : 

data emp(drop=Manager_EMP_ID Salary);
     set emp (keep=Manager_EMP_ID Employee_ID Salary);
     if Manager_Emp_ID=101 and Salary >45000;
     Age = yrdif(DOB,'05Feb2017'd,'Actual'd);
run;

Why Employee_ID, Age should be the variables appearing in the emp dataset ? The (keep=) on the lane 2 shouldn't ignore DOB while creating the PDV and so creating an error when reaching the following lane ? 

Age = yrdif(DOB,'05Feb2017'd,'Actual'd);

[Reeza]

'Actual'd isn't whatever you think it is. What are you expecting from that portion of the code?

There is no 'actual', I suspect you want the TODAY() function instead perhaps?

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@Masande wrote:

Hello !

I try to solve some quizzes. Considering the following data set : 

if you submit the following code : 

data emp(drop=Manager_EMP_ID Salary);
     set emp (keep=Manager_EMP_ID Employee_ID Salary);
     if Manager_Emp_ID=101 and Salary >45000;
     Age = yrdif(DOB,'05Feb2017'd,'Actual'd);
run;

Why Employee_ID, Age should be the variables appearing in the emp dataset ? The (keep=) on the lane 2 shouldn't ignore DOB while creating the PDV and so creating an error when reaching the following lane ? 

Age = yrdif(DOB,'05Feb2017'd,'Actual'd);

---

[Masande]

I simply copied the question from the quiz without any modification. I hadn't even noticed the 'Actual'd thing. I know what Actual does in yrdiff (alias for "act/act") but never met the "+d" version.

So my first question remains, and I can add : "What's "Actual"d ?"

[Reeza]

The INTCK formula is wrong. Fix that and you'll likely solve your issues. 

Which quiz are you using? If it's a SAS quiz, it's a good idea to report errors like this. 

I have no idea what 'actual'd is or what it's supposed to do in this context. It's wrong. 

The reason you're getting this type of behaviour is this:

data OUTPUT;
set OUTPUT;

When you you use the same name as the input and output set you often get unexpected behaviour when your code errors out, which is what is happening in this case. Fix the errors in INTCK() FIRST and then see if you still have the same issues. 

The INTCK() documentation is here:

https://documentation.sas.com/?docsetId=lefunctionsref&docsetTarget=p1md4mx2crzfaqn14va8kt7qvfhr.htm...

---

@Masande wrote:

I simply copied the question from the quiz without any modification. I hadn't even noticed the 'Actual'd thing. I know what Actual does in yrdiff (alias for "act/act") but never met the "+d" version.

So my first question remains, and I can add : "What's "Actual"d ?"

---

[Masande]

I found the quizz here : https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2017/02/40-must-know-questions-on-base-sas-for-analysts-data-sc...

The question is the n°17.

[Reeza]

Ah...well, it's wrong. Whomever wrote that doesn't seem to understand the INTCK() function at all. 

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

Not sure why I had it in my head that INTCK was being used, YRDIF doesn't have the ACTUAL parameter so that needs to be fixed. It will still return an error because DOB is not in the input data set. Note that the KEEP on the SET statement does not include DOB. 

 set emp (keep=Manager_EMP_ID Employee_ID Salary);

Then if you look at the data set option closely, it's a DROP. So you know have:

manager_emp_id employee_id salary and AGE/DOB (all missing), and then you drop more variables:

data emp(drop=Manager_EMP_ID Salary);

So in the end, you end up with:

employee_id, age and DOB, with only Employee_ID filled in. 

This is a really, really bad example IMO. You should try finding a different method of studying, I recommend the Little SAS book which has been edited and used by hundred if not thousands of SAS programmers.