proc format cntlin error

[Dani08]

The following procudes the error: for format lookup_acbs, this range is repeated, or values overlap:

proc sort data=acbs nodupkey;
by acbs_products;
run;
 
data lookup_acbs; 
set acbs;
start=acbs_products;
label='KEEP';
fmtname='lookup_acbs';
 
proc format cntlin=lookup_acbs; run;
 

I am trying to create a format for a list of product names (approx 200), which look like...

CALOGEN

CALSHAKE

CARBZERO

CARE CO-LACTASE

...

 Obviously as I used 'proc sort nodupkey', there should be no duplicates... I wonder if anyone can tell me why the proc format is not working? Is it to do with the presence of spaces in the product names?

Many thanks,

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

Add a type to make the format a character format:

proc sort data=acbs nodupkey;
by acbs_products;
run;
 
data lookup_acbs; 
set acbs;
start=acbs_products;
label='KEEP';
type = 'C'; /* this is important */
fmtname='lookup_acbs';
run;
 
proc format cntlin=lookup_acbs;
run;

Otherwise, proc format tries to create a numeric format and gets only missing values, as the character values can't be converted to numeric.

[Dani08]

Thank you so much! I didn't realise I had to set it as a character format too.

[Kurt_Bremser]

... and some SAS messages are not that intuitive, especially for newcomers 🙂