Reference levels cannot be set in the SURVEYREG procedure

[Kabuto]

I want to set a reference level to each categorical variable when running the SURVEYREG procedure. The online manual indeed mentions that using the REF= option can define a reference level in the CLASS statement:

The SURVEYREG Procedure - CLASS statement 

Nonetheless, this option does not work in my program. The log window always shows syntax error:

I knew that there is another way to set up reference levels by using the FORMAT procedure, while I am just wondering why the REF= option does not work as described in the SAS online manual? Any help is very appreciated.

[Reeza]

What version of SAS/STAT do you have? Most likely you're on an older version that doesn't support this feature. You can check your version using:

proc product_status;run;

[Kabuto]

Here is the version information from Base SAS Software and SAS/STAT

For Base SAS Software ...
Custom version information: 9.4_M2
Image version information: 9.04.01M2P072314
For SAS/STAT ...
Custom version information: 13.2

I noticed that the online manual is from SAS/STAT 15.1 User's Guide. Does that mean the REF= option only support SAS/STAT 15.1?

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

The documentation for 13.2 does not have the level listed as an option.
https://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/statug/67523/HTML/default/viewer.htm#statug_surveyreg_s...

[Kabuto]

Yes. I also just found that. Thank you very much. I will contact our IT department to see whether it can be upgraded.

[Reeza]

Good luck!