Using hash table to match datasets, How do I avoid matching on missing values?

[Elliott]

Hi, this is a follow up to an earlier post which I marked successful, today I realized the data is being matched on missing values and that is not the result I wanted, all the other matching is wonderful but I cannot show matches on the missing values for acct in rule 4, missing values for id in rule 5 and I also noticed that in rule 3 for acct/last name also matched for missing values on account.  How do I avoid this result. I have been reading everything I can for hash tables for hours and tested multiple ways but cannot figure out how to modify the code to avoid the matching on missing values in those scenarios.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Here is my sample code I have been working with:

data work.main_data;

  infile datalines dlm=',' dsd truncover;

  length lastname firstname $25 store $5 pendingno $13 id $10 acct $16;

  input lastname firstname store pendingno id acct $ assigndate :date9.;

  format assigndate date9.;

  datalines;

JONES,JACK,05522,A123456B85946,079458678,4569874589375158,04JUN2021

LYANS,LOIS,04437,A124457B85946,129458646,,22JAN2022

WILLIAMS,JOHN,05522,A123478C25946,379429678,5429874589374758,07AUG2021

BETZINA,ANN,04437,D983456B85946,469457578,4569874589375894,15OCT2021

JOYES,JACK,00301,A123456B85946,279258678,3729874589375158,04SEP2021

SAMS,MACK,02747,A128547B85946,654458746,455874589375321,27MAY2022

WILLIS,JANE,00301,A123458X25946,379447878,5412345589374758,13AUG2021

BETXINA,RUTH,04437,D983426B85946,269453578,4569874589387651,25DEC2021

DAVIS,DAVID,05522,B123458X25136,379442778,5418445589374758,13APR2021

BATHE,ROBERT,04437,D983716B85946,264853578,4569891589387657,25MAR2022

;

 

data work.match_data;

  infile datalines dlm=',' dsd truncover;

  length last_name first_name $25 refno $13 sid $10 acctno $16;

  input last_name first_name refno sid acctno $ recevdate :date9.;

  format recevdate date9.;

  datalines;

JONES,JACK,A123456B85946,079458678,4569874589375158,05JUN2021

LYONS,LOIS,A123357B85946,,6559874589375321,23JAN2022

WILLIAMS,JAMES,,379429678,5429874589374758,09AUG2021

BETZINA,ANN,D983456B85946,469457578,4569874589375158,18OCT2021

JOYES,JACK,A123456B85946,279258678,3729874589375158,07SEP2021

SAMSA,MACK,A128547B95946,654458646,,28MAY2022

WILLS,JADE,A123458X25946,379447878,5412345589374758,15AUG2021

BETXINA,RUTH,D983426B85946,269453578,4569874589387651,27DEC2021

WILLIAMS,JOHN,A123478C25946,379429678,5429874589374758,08AUG2021

;

 

data work.v_match_data /view=work.v_match_data;

  set work.match_data;

  rename

    refno=pendingno

    last_name=lastname

    first_name=firstname

    acctno = acct

    sid = id

    ;

run;

 

data want;

format rule 1.;

rule = 0;

  if _n_=1 then

    do;

      if 0 then set work.v_match_data(keep=recevdate);

      dcl hash h_rule1(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule1.defineKey('pendingno','lastname');

      h_rule1.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule1.defineDone();

     

 

      dcl hash h_rule2(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule2.defineKey('pendingno');

      h_rule2.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule2.defineDone();

    

      

      dcl hash h_rule3(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule3.defineKey('acct','lastname');

      h_rule3.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule3.defineDone();

    

 

      dcl hash h_rule4(dataset:'work.v_match_data ');

      h_rule4.defineKey ('acct');

      h_rule4.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule4.defineDone();

     

      

      dcl hash h_rule5(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule5.defineKey('id');

      h_rule5.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule5.defineDone();

     

 

      dcl hash h_rule6(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule6.defineKey('lastname','firstname');

      h_rule6.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule6.defineDone();

    

 

    end;

  call missing(of _all_);

 

  set work.main_data;

 

  if h_rule1.find()=0 then rule=1;

  else if h_rule2.find()=0 then rule=2;

  else if h_rule3.find()=0 then rule=3 ;

  else if h_rule4.find()=0 then rule=4;

  else if h_rule5.find()=0 then rule=5;

  else if h_rule6.find()=0 then rule=6;

  else rule=0;

 

run;

 

[mkeintz · Accepted solution]

I presume all you need to do is remove dataitems (i.e. "rows") with missing values for the respective hash key.  Apparently the only problem is rule 4, with key ACCT.  So change

    dcl hash h_rule4(dataset:'work.v_match_data ');

to

    dcl hash h_rule4(dataset:'work.v_match_data (where=(nmiss(acct))=0)');

No missing acct entry will be in the hash object.

Edit: @andreas_lds noted the misplaced closing parent above.  The suggested code should have been

   dcl hash h_rule4(dataset:‘work.v_match_data(where=(nmiss(acct)=0))’)

[Elliott]

Actually this also happens on ID(rule 5), it is matching missing values there also.  

I have tried the suggested correction, but I get this error:

NOTE: There were 9 observations read from the data set WORK.MATCH_DATA.

ERROR: Invalid option name =.

ERROR: Invalid data set option string at line 147 column 7.

ERROR: DATA STEP Component Object failure.  Aborted during the EXECUTION phase.

I have attached my code and if I can get the image in, the results, you will see the last 2 records match on rule 4 and rule 5 when those values were missing.

data work.main_data;

  infile datalines dlm=',' dsd truncover;

  length lastname firstname $25 store $5 pendingno $13 id $10 acct $16;

  input lastname firstname store pendingno id acct $ assigndate :date9.;

  format assigndate date9.;

  datalines;

JONES,JACK,05522,A123456B85946,079458678,4569874589375158,04JUN2021

LYANS,LOIS,04437,A124457B85946,129458646,6559874589375321,22JAN2022

WILLIAMS,JOHN,05522,A123478B25946,379429668,5429842709374758,07AUG2021

BETZINA,ANN,04437,D983456B85946,469457578,4569874589375894,15OCT2021

JOYES,JACK,00301,A123456B85946,279258678,3729874589375158,04SEP2021

SAMS,MACK,02747,A128547B85946,654458746,455874589375321,27MAY2022

WILLIS,JANE,00301,A123458X25946,379447878,5412345589374758,13AUG2021

BETXINA,RUTH,04437,D983426B85946,269453578,4569874589387651,25DEC2021

DAVIS,DAVID,05522,B123458X25136,,5418445589374758,13APR2021

BATHE,ROBERT,04437,D983716B85946,264853578,,25MAR2022

;

 

data work.match_data;

  infile datalines dlm=',' dsd truncover;

  length last_name first_name $25 refno $13 sid $10 acctno $16;

  input last_name first_name refno sid acctno $ recevdate :date9.;

  format recevdate date9.;

  datalines;

JONES,JACK,A123456B85946,079458678,4569874589375158,05JUN2021

LYONS,LOIS,A123357B85946,,,23JAN2022

WILLIAMS,JAMES,A874857B85946,379429678,5428794589374758,09AUG2021

BETZINA,ANN,D983456B85946,469457578,4569874589375158,18OCT2021

JOYES,JACK,A123456B85946,279258678,3729874589375158,07SEP2021

SAMSA,MACK,A128547B95946,654458646,,28MAY2022

WILLS,JADE,A123458X25946,379447878,5412345589374758,15AUG2021

BETXINA,RUTH,D983426B85946,269453578,4569874589387651,27DEC2021

WILLIAMS,JOHN,A123478C25946,379429678,,08AUG2021

;

 

data work.v_match_data /view=work.v_match_data;

  set work.match_data;

  rename

    refno=pendingno

    last_name=lastname

    first_name=firstname

    acctno = acct

    sid = id

    ;

run;

 

data want;

format rule 1.;

rule = 0;

  if _n_=1 then

    do;

      if 0 then set work.v_match_data(keep=recevdate);


      dcl hash h_rule1(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule1.defineKey('pendingno','lastname');

      h_rule1.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule1.defineDone();

     

 

      dcl hash h_rule2(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule2.defineKey('pendingno');

      h_rule2.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule2.defineDone();

    

      

      dcl hash h_rule3(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule3.defineKey('acct','lastname');

      h_rule3.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule3.defineDone();

    

 

      dcl hash h_rule4(dataset:'work.v_match_data (where=(nmiss(acct))=0)');

      h_rule4.defineKey ('acct');

      h_rule4.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule4.defineDone();

/*      (where=(nmiss(acct))=0)   */

     

      dcl hash h_rule5(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule5.defineKey('id');

      h_rule5.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule5.defineDone();

/*    (where=(nmiss(id))=0)     */

 

      dcl hash h_rule6(dataset:'work.v_match_data');

      h_rule6.defineKey('lastname','firstname');

      h_rule6.defineData('recevdate');

      h_rule6.defineDone();

    

 

    end;

  call missing(of _all_);

 

  set work.main_data;

 

  if h_rule1.find()=0 then rule=1;

  else if h_rule2.find()=0 then rule=2;

  else if h_rule3.find()=0 then rule=3 ;

  else if h_rule4.find()=0 then rule=4;

  else if h_rule5.find()=0 then rule=5;

  else if h_rule6.find()=0 then rule=6;

  else rule=0;

 

run;

[andreas_lds]

One closing bracket is misplaced:

'work.v_match_data (where=(nmiss(acct))=0)'

move it behind the zero.

[Elliott]

Thanks, funny thing is I tried so many different ways but never hit on the correct one.  Thank you very much!