Using SYMPUTX/SYMGET

[David_S]

Hello all,

I'm trying to automate my program in which it will select the observation with the highest salary using SYMPUTX and SYMGET and simply replace the macro variable to the correct value.  However, the macro value isn't be replaced, rather going to eof.  Although I do get the 1 correct observation (4     D     $87,545) returned I'm trying to keep all original 5 obs in the data set.  I think I'm butchering the syntax.  Any idea?

Thanks,

David

ID          Name               Salary

1          A                        $20,000

2          B                        $30,475

3          C                        $26,895

4          D                        $87,975

5          E                        $42,545

data salary;

     set Emp_Payroll end=final;

     call symputx('highsal',employee_id,salary);

     call symputx('empid',employee_id);

     if salary>symget('highsal');

     if final then do;

          call symputx('highsal',salary);

     end;

run;

[dkb]

Could you post your log, please?  When I run your code, I get 5 observations on the table and the wrong high value.

Code:

data Emp_Payroll;

input employee_ID Name $ Salary;

datalines;

1          A                        20000

2          B                        30475

3          C                        26895

4          D                        87975

5          E                        42545

;

run;

data salary;

     set Emp_Payroll end=final;

     call symputx('highsal',employee_id,salary);

     call symputx('empid',employee_id);

     if salary>symget('highsal');

     if final then do;

          call symputx('highsal',salary);

     end;

run;

%put &highsal. &empid.;

Log:

25         data salary;

26              set Emp_Payroll end=final;

27              call symputx('highsal',employee_id,salary);

28              call symputx('empid',employee_id);

29              if salary>symget('highsal');

30              if final then do;

31                   call symputx('highsal',salary);

32              end;

33         run;

NOTE: Numeric values have been converted to character values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).

      27:41  

NOTE: Character values have been converted to numeric values at the places given by: (Line):(Column).

      29:16  

NOTE: There were 5 observations read from the data set WORK.EMP_PAYROLL.

NOTE: The data set WORK.SALARY has 5 observations and 3 variables.

NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):

      real time           0.09 seconds

      cpu time            0.03 seconds

34         %put &highsal. &empid.;

42545 5

[Jagadishkatam]

could you please try the below code. To get the highest salary employee details along with salary we need to sort the data by salary.

data Emp_Payroll;

input ID$           Name$               Salary :dollar8.;

cards;

1          A                        $20,000

2          B                        $30,475

3          C                        $26,895

4          D                        $87,975

5          E                        $42,545

;

proc sort data=Emp_Payroll;

by Salary;

run;

data salary;

     set Emp_Payroll end=final;

     if final then do;

         call symputx("empid",id);

         new=symget("empid");

         call symputx("highsal",salary);

     end;

run;

%put &empid &highsal ;

Thanks,

Jag

[David_S · Accepted solution]

Thanks for information.  My goal was to try and avoid using the proc sort and have the macro variable overwrite.  So, I guess I'm really trying to compare the previous salary and, if higher, overwrite that value to the salary macro.

I do appreciate your insight.

David

[Astounding]

Well, some of the syntax is clearly not what you actually ran.  The first CALL SYMPUTX uses SALARY as the third argument ... certainly not what you intended.

Why all this macro language?  Why not a simpler version:

data salary;

     set Emp_Payroll end=final;

     retain highsal;

     if salary > highsal then highsal = salary;

     if final then do;

          call symputx('highsal', highsal);

     end;

run;

Also note that it is not clear whether SALARY is numeric or character in your data.  If it is character, $9,000 would be greater than all the salaries you have shown and this would probably be the wrong answer.  Even if you don't have salaries that low, as a character string $100,000 would be smaller than all the salaries you have shown which would again give you the wrong answer.

Good luck.

[David_S]

Correct, not what I actually ran.  I abbreviated to prevent employee information from being compromised thus not an accurate log to provide.  This is certainly more concise but I should have been more clear as to what my intended goal is...to overwrite the higher salary value when comparing the previous iteration.  I'm all ears if you would know how best to compare the first ob to the next and if that salary is higher have it overwrite the macro in SYMPUTX.

Thanks for the help.

David