how to combine 2 dataset by common variable with out replacing missing values for other variables

[mrug12]

in end i do not able to get value for end date seprately or so,,,,

[art297]

You need to explain.  The code and example I sent would provide values for start and/or enddates if either or both exist in your file.

[mrug12]

THANKS FOR THE HELP BUT LOOK LIKE THE DATASET TO BEGEN WITH IS CURREPT AND I NEED TO WORK ON THAT DETAILS FIRST TO START WITH ,,,,,AS SO SORRY FOR TROUBLE,,,,,,AND THANKS FOR THE REPLY AND SUGGESTION,,,,

[Tom]

The basic idea of interleaving records from two (or more) dataset in ID order can by done with SET and BY statements.

Did you want to more than that?

data one;
  input serial start $15. ;
cards;
101 jan2008
101 feb2008
101 march2008
102 feb2007
102 march2007
102 april2007
run;
data two ;
  input serial end $15.;
101 july2007
101 aug2007
101 sept2007
102 may2008
102 june2008
102 july2008
run;
data both ;
  set one two;
  by serial;
run;

Output:

Obs    serial      start        end
  1      101     jan2008
  2      101     feb2008
  3      101     march2008
  4      101                  july2007
  5      101                  aug2007
  6      101                  sept2007
  7      102     feb2007
  8      102     march2007
  9      102     april2007
 10      102                  may2008
 11      102                  june2008
 12      102                  july200

[Tom]

Now if you want to also order by the date then you will need to first give it real dates and then copy the start and end dates to another variable that you can use to order.

data one;
  format serial 5. date start date9.;
  input serial start date9. ;
  date=start;
cards;
101 01jan2008
101 01feb2008
101 01mar2008
102 01feb2007
102 01mar2007
102 01apr2007
run;
data two ;
  format serial 5. date end date9.;
  input serial end date9.;
  date=end;
cards;
101 01jul2007
101 01aug2007
101 01sep2007
102 01may2008
102 01jun2008
102 01jul2008
run;
data both ;
  set one two;
  by serial date ;
run;
options nocenter nodate nonumber linesize=50;
proc print width=min;
run;

Obs    serial      date           start           end
  1     101      01JUL2007            .     01JUL2007
  2     101      01AUG2007            .     01AUG2007
  3     101      01SEP2007            .     01SEP2007
  4     101      01JAN2008    01JAN2008             .
  5     101      01FEB2008    01FEB2008             .
  6     101      01MAR2008    01MAR2008             .
  7     102      01FEB2007    01FEB2007             .
  8     102      01MAR2007    01MAR2007             .
  9     102      01APR2007    01APR2007             .
 10     102      01MAY2008            .     01MAY2008
 11     102      01JUN2008            .     01JUN2008
 12     102      01JUL2008            .     01JUL2008

[Ksharp]

SQL can do it easily.

data one;
  input serial start $15. ;
cards;
101 jan2008
101 feb2008
101 march2008
102 feb2007
102 march2007
102 april2007
;
run;

data two ;
  input serial end $15.;
cards;
101 july2007
101 aug2007
101 sept2007
102 may2008
102 june2008
102 july2008
;
run;
proc sql ;
 create table want as
  select * from one 
   where serial in (select distinct serial from two)
 outer union  corresponding 
  select * from two 
   where serial in (select distinct serial from one);
quit;
proc sort data=want;by serial;run;

Ksharp