For an external file employee.txt like:
susan*12/29/1970*10
micheal**6
data employee;
infile "/special path/employee.txt" dlm='*' dsd;
input employee $ bdate: mmddyy10. years;
run;
both dlm and dsd are needed for proper input. However, there is no comma in the input data but only two stars for a missed value. Why is a dsd required? I read a few documents and posters. It seems it is still confused.