I think you are closing in on the problem, Tom! There is still, however, one little catch. If the proc sql is run within a SAS macro, the macro variable reference that generates the error message is run within the same macro. ... View more

There is currently no log from PROC SQL due to the options set in the beginning for the batch of programs. ... View more

Thank you, Quentin, for the initiated reasoning. I cannot be sure that mydata or var existed when running. However, I got no error message from Proc SQL so I assume the did. But, then how could I get an empty num_obs? I'm not sure if num_obs existed as a global and/or local macro variable before the proc sql was executed. But I think that the code might have been run within a SAS macro somehow. The code is very complex. ... View more

The problem is not that I want to check if a macro varible exist but rather how I got the messages:   WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference num_obs not resolved. ERROR: The text expression &num_obs. contains a recursive reference to the macro variable num_obs. The macro variable will be assigned the null value.    Without having any error messages from Proc SQL.  ... View more

When I run your first code I get the following error message.    ERROR: File WORK.MYDATA.DATA does not exist.   However, this error message is also absent in my log.   Unfortnately it's very difficult for me to rerun the code to regenarate a log with more information. ... View more

Thank you, PageMiller, for trying to find the answer to my question.   However, when I run your code I get the following error message: ERROR: The following columns were not found in the contributing tables: gorilla.   I have no corresponding error message in my log.   Showing the log is of no use to anyone as the program starts with the following: options nonotes nomprint nomlogic nosymbolgen nosource nosource2;   Thus it's only WARNING and ERROR that gets through to the log.   ... View more

I want to process each by group separately. I thought it would save processing time reducing the data set everytime data from a new by group was extracted.   ... View more

Thanks a lot, Tom! You definitely nailed the problem. A drop statement at the end of the data step will do the trick.    data Analysis StocksSrtd; retain AnalysisInd; set StocksSrtd; by Stock; if _n_= 1 then AnalysisInd= 1; if AnalysisInd= 1 then output Analysis; else output StocksSrtd; if last.Stock then AnalysisInd= 0; drop AnalysisInd; run; ... View more

Thank you, PaigeMiller, for the interest in my problem. Please see the log below.     1 proc sort 2 data= sashelp.Stocks (keep= Stock Date) 3 out= StocksSrtd; 4 by Stock descending Date; 5 run; NOTE: There were 699 observations read from the data set SASHELP.STOCKS. NOTE: The data set WORK.STOCKSSRTD has 699 observations and 2 variables. NOTE: PROCEDURE SORT used (Total process time): real time 0.03 seconds cpu time 0.03 seconds 6 7 data Analysis StocksSrtd; 8 retain AnalysisInd; 9 set StocksSrtd; 10 by Stock; 11 if _n_= 1 12 then AnalysisInd= 1; 13 if AnalysisInd= 1 14 then 15 output Analysis; 16 else 17 output StocksSrtd; 18 if last.Stock 19 then AnalysisInd= 0; 20 run; NOTE: There were 699 observations read from the data set WORK.STOCKSSRTD. NOTE: The data set WORK.ANALYSIS has 233 observations and 3 variables. NOTE: The data set WORK.STOCKSSRTD has 466 observations and 3 variables. NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time): real time 0.03 seconds cpu time 0.03 seconds 21 data Analysis StocksSrtd; 22 retain AnalysisInd; 23 set StocksSrtd; 24 by Stock; 25 if _n_= 1 26 then AnalysisInd= 1; 27 if AnalysisInd= 1 28 then 29 output Analysis; 30 else 31 output StocksSrtd; 32 if last.Stock 33 then AnalysisInd= 0; 34 run; NOTE: There were 466 observations read from the data set WORK.STOCKSSRTD. NOTE: The data set WORK.ANALYSIS has 1 observations and 3 variables. NOTE: The data set WORK.STOCKSSRTD has 465 observations and 3 variables. NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time): real time 0.01 seconds cpu time 0.01 seconds ... View more

Thank you so much, Reeza! Exactly what I wanted, and you provided as well the code before I did. Hats off! ... View more

Thank you, Reeza, for your hint. I thought that I added an example of what I actually wanted but the file didn't seem to get through. I have now added it to this reply and I hope it will get through. I will also see if I can add some code examples later today or tomorrow. ... View more

Thank you, PaigeMiller, for your interest in my problem.   To be more specific the problem I would like to solve is how to print timeseries graphs to a paper format ordered in rows and columns so that I can fit as many graphs as convenient on each page. I'm perfectly aware that I can print SGPLOT graphs to a file but I do not know how to order them in rows and coclumns.  ... View more