Why isn't my if then statement working?

[aliyahh]

I'm just getting started and it's very simple code in SAS University. What am I doing wrong??  I get the following message when I run my if-then statement: ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order. 

*libnames point to the folder that contains the datasets, not the individual datasets;
libname malawi '/folders/myfolders/'; 
*malawi is the name of the folders and mwfemale_pubuse is the name of the dataset;
proc contents data=malawi.mwfemale_pubuse;

*Age groups 13-17 and 18-24;
if 13 <= q2 <= 18 then agegroup= 1;
if 18 <= q2 <=24 then agegroup= 2;

[SASKiwi · Accepted solution]

Try this:

data want;
  set malawi.mwfemale_pubuse;
if 13 <= q2 <= 18 then agegroup= 1;
if 18 <= q2 <=24 then agegroup= 2;
run;

[MINX]

@aliyahh IF statement can not be used in CONTENTS procedure. The CONTENTS procedure shows the contents of a SAS data set and prints the directory of the SAS library. If you want to do conditional derivation for agegroup, @SASKiwi gave you the best approach in DATA step.

[Reeza]

Always end your PROC/DATA STEP with a RUN (or quit). 

When creating new variables you need to explicitly tell SAS both what data set you're working with and what you're trying to create. This occurs within a DATA STEP. 

DATA <New>;

SET <source>;

code to do stuff goes here - like if/then;

run;

I believe theres a free ecourse available as well as numerous videos here

http://video.sas.com/#category/videos/how-to-tutorials

[PGStats]

Note: avoid making ambiguous age group definitions (as it is in your example for q2=18)

*Age groups 13-17 and 18-24;
if 13 <= q2 <  18 then agegroup= 1;
if 18 <= q2 <= 24 then agegroup= 2;

[aliyahh]

Thanks everyone!