Proc freq table error message?

[ybz12003]

Hello,

I would like to get the counts for any variables equal to 1; I use Proc Freq table below.  Why SAS showed an error message?  Thank you.

proc freq data=H4_SEC_UC;
	table sec_noumedcond sec_uasthma;
	 where (sec_noumedcond=1 or sec_uasthma=1);
run;

211  proc freq data=H4_SEC_UC;
212      table sec_noumedcond    sec_uasthma ;
219       where (sec_noumedcond=1 or sec_uasthma=1);
ERROR: WHERE clause operator requires compatible variables.
226  run;

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.

[Quentin · Accepted solution]

The error message suggests that at least one of the variables on your WHERE statement are character rather than numeric.  So you would need to code perhaps:

where (sec_noumedcond='1' or sec_uasthma='1');

'Compatible' in the error message means being the correct type.  The WHERE statement doesn't do automatic numeric to character conversions.  If you don't know which variable is character, you can run PROC CONTENTS on the dataset.