Combining data cells which may hold blanks

[SannaSanna]

Hello SAS community!

I love and appreciate all the help from this community.  I’m seeking help with the following.  I have a database containing individuals submitting information during 6 different periods.  I am looking to 1) create a new string variable (24 bytes) which combines the data together from all 6 periods (4 bytes each).  Maybe a concatenation?  However, there may be blanks during a period in which I would like to input as ‘9999’.    How can I do this?   2) I would also like to identify the individuals who submit the same receipts during different terms?   Examples are the last two individuals (Term1 & Term5) (Term3 and Term6).  I would like to create a separate dataset to identify those individuals for further analysis.  Can anyone help me?  Thank you so much!!

ID1	Term1	Term2	Term3	Term4	Term5	Term6
a_78076	7600		9875	4388	3709
er_866455	5436	9468	4009	4388	7600	3288
ik_33442	9865	4009	6783		9865	3288
ev_965747	5436	9468	3288	4388	7600	3288

Want output and separate dataset for the last two individuals who submitted same receipts:  

a_78076	760099999875438837099999
er_866455	543694684009438876003288
ik_33442	986540096783999998653288
ev_965747	543694683288438876003288

[PaigeMiller · Accepted solution]

data want;
    set have;
    length long_string $ 24;
    array term $ term1-term6;
    do i=1 to dim(term);
        if missing(term(i)) then term(i)='9999';
    end;
    long_string = cats(of term1-term6);
    drop term1-term6 i;
run;

 Next, duplicate receipts

data dup_receipts;
    set have;
    array term $ term1-term6;
    length long_string $ 24;
    flag=0;
    do i=1 to dim(term);
        if missing(term(i)) then term(i)='9999';
        if i<dim(term) then do j=(i+1) to dim(term);
             if term(i)=term(j) and term(i)^='9999' then flag=1;
             leave;
        end;
    end;
    long_string = cats(of term1-term6);
    if flag=1 then output;
    drop term1-term6 i j;
run;

Which brings up the question, why do you need a string of 24 digits?

[SannaSanna]

Hello! Thank you for responding. I am also unable to successfully run the first portion of the code? Perhaps I do not need string of 24 digits-- could that be the reason for the error message below?

My log gives me an error of: WARNING: In a call to the CATS function, the buffer allocated for the result was not long enough to contain the concatenation of all the arguments. The correct
result would contain 28 characters, but the actual result might either be truncated to 24 character(s) or be completely blank, depending on the calling
environment. The following note indicates the left-most argument that caused truncation.
NOTE: Argument 7 to function CATS('9999','9999','9999','9999','9999','9999','9999') at line 703 column 19 is invalid.

[SannaSanna]

Hi !!!!! I removed the 24 digits as length and both of your codes worked exactly the way I want! Thank you so very much!!!!!

[Shmuel]

You may try next code:

data want;
 set have;
      keep ID1 concat;
      array tm {6} term1-term6;
      do i=1 to dim(tm);
           if missing(tm) then tm=9999;
      end;
      caoncat = cat(of term:);
end;

[SannaSanna]

Hi. Thank you for responding. I made attempt to use your code and I'm erroring out. My log tells me : ERROR: Illegal reference to the array tm, AND after the 'end' statement there is no matching do/select statement? Can you re-help?