SAS is not reading my FORMAT for a variable correctly

[rodrima4]

SAS Studio User 

Hi again! Thank you for the help on my previous question, but there seems to be another issue with my code that I have to fix. I have a variable named StateCd for which SAS should read as 'MS'. In that same code, I included a FORMAT for the variable StateCd which I have named $StateCd. This format is supposed to read as 'Mississippi'. Here is my code for the format: 

PROC FORMAT;

     VALUE      $StateCd

                      'IA' = 'Iowa'

                      'MS' = 'Mississippi'

                      'UT' = 'Utah';

           RUN;

When I run my entire code, in the output my variable StateCd is read as 'MI' which are the first two letters of Mississippi. I know this is happening because in my code my length statement states that StateCd should be a length of 2. However, my data steps for IA and UT are similar to my MS data step code and I am not having issues with those reading like I want them to. If anyone can provide me with some insight as to what I am doing wrong, I would appreciate it! Let me know if you need to see anything else. Thank you in advance. 

Here's my code for MS:

DATA WORK.Contact_MS;
     RETAIN SSN Inits City StateCd ZipCd;

     LENGTH Inits $3
                    City $20
                    StateCd $2;
     SET HypImpt.MS_Citizens (RENAME = (SocSecNum = SSN));

    LABEL SSN = 'Social Security Number'
                 Inits = 'Subject Initials'
                 City = 'City'
           StateCd = 'State Code'
              ZipCd = 'Zip Code';

City = SCAN(CityState, 1, ' ,');
City = PROPCASE(City);
StateCd = UPCASE(SCAN(CityState, 2, ' ,'), 1);
StateCd = COMPRESS((SCAN(CityState, 2, ',')));
StateCd = UPCASE(StateCd);
Inits = CATS(SUBSTR(FirstInit, 1, 1), SUBSTR(MiddleInit, 1, 1), SUBSTR (LastInit, 1, 1));

FORMAT StateCd $StateCd.; /*if I add this, "Unexpected Value" appears in output*/
KEEP SSN Inits City StateCd ZipCd;
RUN;

[ballardw]

Formats have nothing to do with "reading" but display.

You have now asked several questions without actually showing any of your actual data.

The format you show will not display "Unexpected Value".  If you see that as a formatted value, then the format is NOT the one you show as code.

So, provide example data in the form of a data step that generates the result you claim.

Also, when getting messages in the log that you question copy from the log the entire data step or procedure code and all the messages or notes. Then paste into a code box opened on the forum with the </> icon to preserve the formatting of the text. SAS often provides diagnostics and the code box preserves the location for use. The main message windows reformat pasted text.

[rodrima4]

It's tough for me to explain everything, but hopefully this can give you a better idea of what I want to achieve.

Here's an example of a code that achieves what I want to do for WORK.Contact_MS.

DATA	WORK.Contact_IA ;  
	RETAIN SSN Inits City StateCd ZipCd; 
	 
	SET	HypImpt.IowaResidents 
		(   RENAME = ( ZipCd = ZipCdNum )   );  
			 ZipCd = PUT(ZipCdNum, 5.); 
			DROP 	ZipCdNum; 
	LABEL 	SSN			=  'Social Security Number' 
			Inits		=  'Subject Initials' 
			City		=  'City' 
			StateCd		=  'State Code' 
			ZipCd		=  'Zip Code'; 
	LENGTH  Inits    $	3 
			StateCd  $	2; 
		 
		 City  = PROPCASE(City); 
 	   StateCd = CAT(SUBSTR(State, 1, 1), SUBSTR(State, 4,1)); 
         Inits = CATS(SUBSTR(Initials, 3, 2), SUBSTR(Initials, 1, 1)); 
	FORMAT StateCd $StateCd.;  
	KEEP SSN Inits City StateCd ZipCd; 
 
	RUN;

My output looks like this for WORK.Contact_IA:

Just to give you an idea of what the original data set looks like:

Right now, my output for WORK.Contact_MS looks like this:

Here is what I see in my log (which doesn't show any errors or warning messages): 

 1          OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
 72         
 73         DATAWORK.Contact_MS;
 74         RETAIN SSN Inits City StateCd ZipCd;
 75         
 76         LENGTH  Inits    $3
 77         City     $20
 78         StateCd  $2;
 79         SETHypImpt.MS_Citizens (RENAME = (SocSecNum = SSN));
 80         
 81         /*RETAIN SSN
 82            Inits
 83            City
 84            StateCd 'MS'
 85            ZipCd;*/
 86         
 87         LABEL SSN=  'Social Security Number'
 88         Inits=  'Subject Initials'
 89         City=  'City'
 90         StateCd=  'State Code'
 91         ZipCd=  'Zip Code';
 92         
 93         
 94             /*  FirstInit = COMPRESS(FirstInit, '.');
 95               MiddleInit = COMPRESS(MiddleInit, '.');
 96               LastInit = COMPRESS(LastInit, '.');
 97               Inits =  FirstInit||MiddleInit||LastInit;
 98               City = SCAN(CityState, 1, ' ,');
 99               StateCd = SCAN(CityState, 2, ' ,'); */
 100        
 101           City  = SCAN(CityState, 1, ' ,');
 102        City  = PROPCASE(City);
 103           StateCd = COMPRESS((SCAN(CityState, 2, ',')));
 104           StateCd = UPCASE(StateCd);
 105                Inits = CATS(SUBSTR(FirstInit, 1, 1), SUBSTR(MiddleInit, 1, 1), SUBSTR (LastInit, 1, 1));
 106        
 107        FORMAT StateCd $StateCd.; /*if I add this, "Unexpected Value" appears in output*/
 108        KEEP SSN Inits City StateCd ZipCd;
 109        RUN;
 
 NOTE: Variable StateCd is uninitialized.
 NOTE: There were 207 observations read from the data set HYPIMPT.MS_CITIZENS.
 NOTE: The data set WORK.CONTACT_MS has 207 observations and 5 variables.
 NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
       real time           0.01 seconds
       user cpu time       0.00 seconds
       system cpu time     0.00 seconds
       memory              1119.18k
       OS Memory           32940.00k
       Timestamp           11/12/2020 02:28:04 AM
       Step Count                        362  Switch Count  2
       Page Faults                       0
       Page Reclaims                     198
       Page Swaps                        0
       Voluntary Context Switches        23
       Involuntary Context Switches      0
       Block Input Operations            0
       Block Output Operations           272
       
 
 110        
 111        
 112        PROC SORT DATA = WORK.Contact_MS;
 113        BY SSN;
 114        RUN;
 
 NOTE: There were 207 observations read from the data set WORK.CONTACT_MS.
 NOTE: The data set WORK.CONTACT_MS has 207 observations and 5 variables.
 NOTE: PROCEDURE SORT used (Total process time):
       real time           0.00 seconds
       user cpu time       0.00 seconds
       system cpu time     0.01 seconds
       memory              1041.50k
       OS Memory           32940.00k
       Timestamp           11/12/2020 02:28:04 AM
       Step Count                        363  Switch Count  2
       Page Faults                       0
       Page Reclaims                     113
       Page Swaps                        0
       Voluntary Context Switches        11
       Involuntary Context Switches      0
       Block Input Operations            0
       Block Output Operations           264
       
 
 115        
 116        PROC CONTENTS DATA = WORK.Contact_MS ORDER = VARNUM;
 117        RUN;
 
 NOTE: PROCEDURE CONTENTS used (Total process time):
       real time           0.06 seconds
       user cpu time       0.07 seconds
       system cpu time     0.00 seconds
       memory              3129.90k
       OS Memory           33708.00k
       Timestamp           11/12/2020 02:28:04 AM
       Step Count                        364  Switch Count  0
       Page Faults                       0
       Page Reclaims                     243
       Page Swaps                        0
       Voluntary Context Switches        2
       Involuntary Context Switches      0
       Block Input Operations            0
       Block Output Operations           16
       
 
 118        
 119        PROC PRINT DATA = WORK.Contact_MS;
 120        RUN;
 
 NOTE: There were 207 observations read from the data set WORK.CONTACT_MS.
 NOTE: PROCEDURE PRINT used (Total process time):
       real time           0.30 seconds
       user cpu time       0.30 seconds
       system cpu time     0.00 seconds
       memory              3049.31k
       OS Memory           35752.00k
       Timestamp           11/12/2020 02:28:05 AM
       Step Count                        365  Switch Count  0
       Page Faults                       0
       Page Reclaims                     643
       Page Swaps                        0
       Voluntary Context Switches        2
       Involuntary Context Switches      0
       Block Input Operations            0
       Block Output Operations           152
       
 
 121        
 122        OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
 134        

[ballardw]

The note after your data step:

 NOTE: Variable StateCd is uninitialized.

Means at that point there is NO VALUE for the StateCd variable.

 Running this code:

PROC FORMAT;
VALUE      $StateCd
'IA' = 'Iowa'
'MS' = 'Mississippi'
'UT' = 'Utah';
RUN;

data junk;
   input x $;
datalines;
IA
BC
MS
UT
.
;

ods listing;
Proc print data=junk;
   format x $statecd.;
run;

Yields this output.

Obs    x

 1     Iowa
 2     BC
 3     Mississippi
 4     Utah
 5

So a "blank" or missing value value with that format does NOT create "Unknown" for output. So, either you have a different actual format ACTIVE than you have shown or something else is happening.

Most likely the actual Format code you ran had either a missing or "other" assigning "Unknown" and that makes sense because you have no actual values for the variable.