How do I merge two columns together, and keep all of their observations?

[IvyMcKee]

Hi there,

I have 2 columns that I want to merge into 1 column. Each column has 40,000 obs in it, all of which I want to keep. I want to merge RefPer and Quid into RefQuid.

All of Refper's obs are in this format: 201911, 201912 etc.

All of Quid's obs are in this format: Q12345.

So the obs in RefQuid should all look something like this: 201911Q12345

I have tried several variations of the following:

DATA finalval

RefQuid = CATS(RefPer, Quid);

run;

I keep recieving this error message: ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: A name, a quoted string, (, /. ;. _data_ _last_, _null.

What am I doing wrong? Is there another way to merge two columns together?

Thank you.

[PeterClemmensen]

Are the two variables character or numeric?

[IvyMcKee]

They are different formats... I don't mind changing them both to character formats but I also don't know how to do that.

[Kurt_Bremser]

You are simply missing a semicolon to end the DATA statement. 

[novinosrin]

DATA finalval; /*I added a semicolon here*/
Set input_dataset; /*this is missing*/
Length RefQuid  $10;
RefQuid = CATS(RefPer, Quid);

run;

 

Hi @IvyMcKee  Please see if the above makes sense to you