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Dani08
Obsidian | Level 7

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,

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
Kurt_Bremser
Super User

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.

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3
Kurt_Bremser
Super User

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
Obsidian | Level 7
Thank you so much! I didn't realise I had to set it as a character format too.

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