Subquery results to 2 rows

[sfmeier]

Dear experts,

I am trying to update a table with values from a different table by using a subquery.

      proc sql;

      /* Update durchführen */

      update p_ctryexp as c

            set RT_Kusa = (select RT_Kusa from tempis),

                  RT_name = (select RT_Name from tempis),

                  RT_IntRating = (select RT_IntRating from tempis),

                  Sektor = (select Sektor from tempis)

            where substr(c.KontoID, 1, max(1,length(c.KontoID)-4)) = (select KontoID

                                                                                                                                      from tempis as t

                                                                                                                                      where substr(c.KontoID, 1, max(1,length(c.KontoID)-4)) = t.KontoID);

   quit;

Now, the update fails because the subquery evaluates to more that one row:

ERROR: Subquery evaluated to more than one row.

NOTE: PROC SQL set option NOEXEC and will continue to check the syntax of statements.

87         quit;

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.

NOTE: PROCEDURE SQL used (Total process time):

      real time           0.00 seconds

      cpu time            0.18 seconds

I cannot follow that, because the way I understand it, the subquery is executed on each row. However for the two rows in tempis, there is exactly onw corresponding row in p_ctryexp. The inner join of the two tables on the where-condition returns two rows. What did I do wrong?

Thx, Stefan

[LinusH · Accepted solution]

You probably need where on each subquery in the set statement.