creating new variables in sas

[yashchawla]

I want to create a new variable which is equal to the column sum of an existing variable monthly_sales.the code i am using is-

data west;
input total;
set yash123;

total=sum monthly_sales;
proc print data=west;
var total;
run;

but it throws an error stating variable total not found.Please help

[dcruik]

You shouldn't need an input statement for your total variable you're creating.  You can use a format statement if you wish to define the variable a format ahead of time.  I think your issue is how you're trying to calculate the variable total.  Are you trying to sum all monthly_sales?  You should be getting a syntax error with your "total=sum monthly_sales;" statement.

If you're looking to sum all monthly_sales observations to get a total amount, I would use a proc means statement or a proc sql with a group by statement.  Unless you're trying to cacluate total a different way.

Hope that helps.

[yashchawla]

hi ,

Thanks for your reply. proc means and proc sql can be used to calculate sum.But then how can we relate that value to the new variable "total"?

[Reeza]

yashchawla wrote:

But then how can we relate that value to the new variable "total"?

What does that mean? A picture is worth a 1000 words, please post input and output data.

[dcruik]

If you mean how to create a variable named total that equals the total sum, then try this:

proc means data=yash123 sum nway noprint;

var monthly_sales;

output out=west (drop=_TYPE_ _FREQ_)

sum=Total;

run;

This will give you a data set called west with a variable called Total that is equal to the sum of all monthly_sales.  If you want to see the sum of monthly_sales by Month, like Mark Johnson laid out, add a class statement to the means procedure with Month as your class:

proc means data=yash123 sum nway noprint;

var monthly_sales;

class month;

output out=west (drop=_TYPE_ _FREQ_)

sum=Total;

run;

Hope that helps!

[Steelers_In_DC]

It would be easier if you gave an example of the data you have and want you want.  Here's a guess at your solution though:

data have;

input month monthly_sales;

cards;

1 100

1 200

2 50

2 100

3 25

3 1

4 0

4 100

5 5000

5 100

6 100

6 1

;

run;

proc sql;

create table want as

select *,sum(monthly_sales) as sum

from have

group by month;

[ballardw]

My $0.02: In my opinion about the only reason to have a column sum (or other summary) is for a report as data like that is very dangerous to have in a data set used for analysis. So use of a reporting procedure and generate the report directly is preferable.