good articles Patrick,thanks ! Yes i do know that & is for a  macro variable and % for  a macro but within a macro code  we can have %if ...% then and  we can also have if... then...,am i correct? So i was wondering what the difference was ... View more

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What does the 'TBK' do,data_null_? ... View more

hey Tom how would you apply proc transpose in this problem? i used this below but the codes still appear in 2 columns proc sort;by id enc enc_date ; proc transpose; var code1-code4; by id enc enc_date ; ... View more

i was just tryin to test my dow skills here.Newly created variables should always be set to missing before the 1st iteration of each by group in DOWs ,right? but that s not happening for me ... View more

data want; do until(last.year); set firm; by sic2 year; if not first.year then do; count+1; sum+return;end;end; avg=sum/count; proc print;run; ... View more

Thank you sir.but if i want to use dows without arrays after sorting the set by sic2 year firm_id and running the dow code to get the mean for which by “ sic2 year firm_id” group excluding the 1 st record of each group i don’t get the expected results. Count and sum don’t get to missing when a new “by sic2 year firm_id” group starts, why? ... View more

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hey Arthur, can you please explain this: x=find(biography,'.',-1*(length(strip(biography))-2)); Thanks ... View more

hi guys, i have a question on this problem. So if i sort the dataset given above  by indt_id year firm_id to get what i have shown here and run the following code i am not getting the right avg Whats  wrong with my code ? data sorted; set have; by indt_id year firm_id; count=0; if not first.year then do; count=count+1; sum+return;end; if last.year then do; avg=sum/count;output; end; proc print;run;                                             Obs    firm_id    SIC     Year    Return    Indt_id                                               1     1001      3100    1990      0.01      310                                               2     1002      3101    1990      0.70      310                                               3     1003      3101    1990      0.20      310                                               4     1001      3100    1991      0.20      310                                               5     1002      3101    1991     -0.50      310                                               6     1003      3101    1991      0.40      310                                               7     1001      3100    1992      0.30      310                                               8     1002      3101    1992      0.20      310                                               9     1003      3101    1992      0.70      310                                              10     1001      3100    1993      0.70      310                                              11     1002      3101    1993      0.40      310                                              12     1003      3101    1993     -0.50      310                                              13     1001      3100    1994     -0.50      310                                              14     1002      3101    1994      0.40      310                                              15     1003      3101    1994      0.20      310                                              16     1001      3100    1995      0.20      310                                              17     1002      3101    1995      0.20      310                                              18     1003      3101    1995      0.20      310                                              19     1001      3100    1996      0.40      310                                              20     1002      3101    1996      0.20      310                                              21     1003      3101    1996      0.20      310                                              22     1004      3303    1990      0.40      330                                              23     1006      3300    1990     -0.50      330                                              24     1004      3303    1991      0.20      330                                              25     1006      3300    1991      0.90      330                                              26     1004      3303    1992      0.20      330                                              27     1006      3300    1992      0.20      330                                              28     1004      3303    1993     -0.50      330                                              29     1006      3300    1993      0.09      330                                              30     1004      3303    1994      0.90      330                                              31     1006      3300    1994      0.09      330                                              32     1004      3303    1995      0.22      330                                              33     1006      3300    1995      0.22      330                                              34     1004      3303    1996      0.10      330                                              35     1006      3300    1996      0.10      330 ... View more