how do you combine two variables into one variable in the same dataset

[whyamihere]

I have been working on this code for three hours for a school assignment, can you please help? I have a large dataset where I need to combine the ethnicity and race and create a variable called group with the following values: 1 (black non-Hispanic) ,  2 (white non-Hispanic), and 3 (Hispanic).

The following is the "key" 

"1"= "American Indian or Alaska Native"
               "2"= "Asian"
               "3"= "Black or African American"
               "4"= "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander"
               "5"= "White"
               "6"= "Other"
               "7"= "Unknown";

"E1"= "Hispanic or Latino"
                    "E2"= "Non-Hispanic or Latino"
                    "E7"= "Unknown";

I think I might be on to something here with this code but I think I need to make a variable named "group"

/*Create a new variable called group*/
DATA=APPENDICITIS.PROJECT3;
if ETHNICITY = "E2" AND RACE = "3" THEN GROUP = "1";
if ETHNICITY = "E2" AND RACE = "5" THEN GROUP = "2";
IF ETHNICITY = "E1" THEN GROUP = "3";
RUN;

Thanks so much for your expertise and time. 

[SASKiwi]

There's no equals sign in a DATA statement and LIBREFs are limited to 8 characters so I've shortened APPENDICITIS to APP. This logic is a bit better:

DATA APP.PROJECT3;
  set ???; * Need to read your input dataset;
if ETHNICITY = "E2" AND RACE = "3" THEN GROUP = "1";
else if ETHNICITY = "E2" AND RACE = "5" THEN GROUP = "2";
else IF ETHNICITY = "E1" THEN GROUP = "3";
RUN;

[Ksharp]

You could create a new variable by combining these two variable ,and create a format to get this GROUP variable, like:

data have;
set have;
new=catx(' ',ETHNICITY ,RACE );
run;
proc format;
value $ fmt
'E2 3'='1'
'E2 5'='2'
'E1' ='3'
;
run;
data want;
set have;
group=put(new,$fmt.);
run;

[Tom]

You need to use a valid data step.  Can you fix that?

Your code is only assigning values to the new variable for 3 of the possible 32 combinations of your two variables.

RACE has 7 valid values and I assume could also have missing values, so 8 possible values.

ETHNICITY has 3 valid values and again I assume could also have missing value, so 4 possible values.

8*4= 32 possible combinations.

Do you just want group to be missing for the other 31 possible combinations?

[whyamihere]

Thanks for responding. What do you mean by using a valid data step? I have bitten off more than I can chew in this class but really want to finish, so please dumb it down for me. My instructions only want me to analyze these 3 values in relationship to mean age.

[Tom]

---

@whyamihere wrote:

Thanks for responding. What do you mean by using a valid data step? I have bitten off more than I can chew in this class but really want to finish, so please dumb it down for me. My instructions only want me to analyze these 3 values in relationship to mean age.

---

Data step starts with a DATA statement that names the dataset(s) it is creating.

It needs to have a source of data.  If that is an existing dataset then you need a SET statement.

Example:

data want;
  set have;