' first row in the CSV-file contains NULL-values' Is that a totally empty row? So 0 to n blanks and a end-of-line indicator? Or do you have the field delimiters in it but all values are "NULL"? Below untested code providing a sample of how you could do it for either of the 2 cases: %let Empty_Line_Flag=0; data _null_;      infile <yourfile>;      input;      /* only 0 to n blanks */      if missing(_infile_) then call symputx('Empty_Line_Flag','1');      /* only delimiters and 0 to n blanks */     if prxmatch('/[^, ]/oi',_infile_) = 0 then call symputx('Empty_Line_Flag','1');     /* stop: so only reading first line */     stop; run; ... and then send an email if &Empty_Line_Flag=1 ... View more

Generally in SAS we recommend using SAS date variables instead of character. if you do something like this in a datastep: testdate= input(birth_dt, ddmmyy.); if testdate=. then put "BIRTH_DT of " birth_dt "not valid for " <record identfying variables>; Any values that are not valid for your format will result in a missing value of Testdate and the IF statement will write to the log any associated information if you add other variables. ... View more

Hi, Hope this is what you are expecting, just separated the day, month and year. please let me know if this is not what you are looking for.. data test;     input date1 : date9. date2 :date9.;     format date1 date2 date9.;     days_month_year=catx('-',put(intck('day',date1,date2),8.),put(intck('month',date1,date2),8.),put(intck('year',date1,date2),8.));    cards; 29AUG2012 02SEP2012 ; run;                                                                                             days_                                                                                             month_                                             Obs        date1         date2           year                                              1     29AUG2012    02SEP2012    4-1-0 Thanks, Jagadish ... View more

Hard to give a rule of thumb, it all depends on your data, data cleansing, data model etc. How do you intend to use constraints? If you use the ETL process to cleanse your data in most of the aspects that you can think, any constraint will be used as extra security, and not often triggered during load. Then it could be wise to apply constraints after load. What you risk is by applying after load, is that non consistent data may be loaded/updated in the target table, and you need to figure out how to roll those inserts/updates out. Another aspect is data volume vs the load window, is performance an issue? If not, you could have constraints applied permanently. ... View more