merging two variables in one dataset

[EM_G]

Hi all,

I have two variables with the same information, its just one has the missing characters for the other. How do I merge them together to fill in the blanks?

For example;

ParkingSpot          Comments

1-11-21                     

                               1-12-22

1-13-23

I would like it to look like:

ParkingSpot

1-11-21

1-12-22

1-13-23

How do I achieve this outcome? CAT or Merge? 

Thanks 

[ballardw]

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@EM_G wrote:

Hi all,

I have two variables with the same information, its just one has the missing characters for the other. How do I merge them together to fill in the blanks?

For example;

ParkingSpot          Comments

1-11-21                     

                               1-12-22

1-13-23

I would like it to look like:

ParkingSpot

1-11-21

1-12-22

1-13-23

How do I achieve this outcome? CAT or Merge? 

Thanks 

---

Does "comments" ever hold a value you do not want in the "Parkingspot" variable? And are the variables the same type?

If the answers above are "no" to the first and "yes" to the second then

Data want;
   set have;
   parkingspot= coalescec(parkingspot, comments);
run;

The Coalescec, and the similar for numeric values Coalesce, functions examine the list of values in quotes and returns the first non-missing value.

Merge is data set operation, not variables.

One of the CAT functions might work but if you ever have both variables with any values the result is likely to be a problem.

[EM_G]

Thankyou for your helpful explanation. 'comments' hold some random values of no use, but where parkingspots is missing 'comments' has the values needed. If that makes sense.

[Patrick · Accepted solution]

Besides of coalescec() a simple condition would also do the job

if missing(parkingspot) then parkingspot=comments;