Get maximum value without sorting

[basabi]

account numbers are shown in Acct ndate is the sasdate for the salary drawn

i want to create a variable with the last drawn salary month

i have tried

proc sort data=bank.dates out=bank.aa;
by Acct ndate;
run;
proc print;run;

data bank.salmnth;
set bank.aa;
by Acct ndate;
if last.Acct then lastmonth=PUT(ndate,monname.);
run;
proc print;run;

what is the alternative for if last.Acct then lastmonth=PUT(ndate,monname.); in data step without proc sort?

[PGStats · Accepted solution]

It depends on the sorting of bank.dates and the indexes defined on that table. You can let SQL figure that out with:

proc sql;
create table bank.salmnth as 
select *, put(nDate, monName.) as lastMonth
from bank.dates
group by Acct
having nDate=max(nDate);
quit;