missover sets a variable where not enough data is present to missing, while truncover reads what's available:
data _null_;
file '$HOME/test.txt';
input testvar $10.;
put testvar;
cards;
1234567890
1234
;
run;
data test1;
infile '$HOME/test.txt' missover;
input testvar $10.;
run;
data test2;
infile '$HOME/test.txt' truncover;
input testvar $10.;
run;
In test1, testvar will be empty for the second observation, while in test2, it gets the "1234".
truncover is newer and preferred.
There are papers on this:
https://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings/proceedings/sugi26/p009-26.pdf
Other people have asked the same question:
Plus plenty of other material on a quick Google search which should answer this question.
Are you ready for the spotlight? We're accepting content ideas for SAS Innovate 2025 to be held May 6-9 in Orlando, FL. The call is open until September 16. Read more here about why you should contribute and what is in it for you!
Learn how use the CAT functions in SAS to join values from multiple variables into a single value.
Find more tutorials on the SAS Users YouTube channel.