Expand a dataset by a specific amount

[bsam17]

Hi,

This may be a bit of a complex task but I was wondering if there's a solution for the following:

I have a dataset that has a "quantity" variable. I would like to expand each observation in this dataset by its quantity. For example, if row 1 has a quantity = 10, I would like to duplicate this row 10 times, and so forth. Can anyone suggest an efficient method for doing so?

Thanks in advance.

[Astounding · Accepted solution]

This should do it:

data want;

   set have;

   do _i_=1 to quantity;

      output;

   end;

   drop _i_;

run;

You might also want to consider what should happen for unusual values for QUANTITY (negative numbers, fractional values, missing values). 

[bsam17]

Thanks!