Retain the first line using first.

[dupp99]

I have a dataset named happy with only one variable.

It's like.

x

2019

New Year

Happy

Good

as x is the variable name, I want a new dataset with 2019 as the year variable, and New Year as the first line in x.

It would be like

x                          year

New Year            2019

Happy                2019

Good                  2019

What I did was:

data new;
set happy;
retain year;
if first.x then year=y;

run;

Why doesn't that work, and how would I make it work?

[novinosrin · Accepted solution]

data have;
input x & $10.;
cards;
2019
New Year
Happy
Good
;

data want;
set have;
retain year;
if _n_=1 then do;
year=x;
delete;
end;
run;