About Astounding

Astounding · ‎03-21-2012

Along similar lines ... If the first record of the day is at 1 p.m., should that record be selected once or twice? The programming won't be that difficult, assuming you can sort the data by your date-time variable. It's the objective that is critical.

Astounding · ‎03-21-2012

Dinpanjan, SAS supports a neat trick that lets you save the WORK area with minimal changes to your SAS program. These changes have to be implemented at the beginning of your program, before adding to the WORK area. As Art mentioned, you have to pre-define a folder where the WORK area will reside, using a LIBNAME statement. From that point, however, you don't need to change the subsequent DATA and PROC steps. Instead, add this line to the program (assuming the LIBNAME statement defined "mydata"): options user=mydata; The default option is user=WORK. That's why your one-level data set names get stored in the WORK library. Here's the part I'm not sure about. If you want to re-use the same WORK area in a subsequent program, is it as simple as adding the same two lines to the subsequent program? I suspect it is, but I'm not positive about that. Of course, Art's method will give you better control if you wish to save just part of the WORK area and discard the rest. Good luck.

Astounding · ‎03-20-2012

Danglytics, You're getting an error message because you're working too hard and getting bleary-eyed. The third %LET statement is missing a semicolon. Good luck.

Astounding · ‎03-20-2012

If you want an easy solution, change how you construct M02, limiting it to one observation per value of A. For example: data m02 (index=(a)); set m02; by a; if last.a; run; Then your final step should work just fine. Note that there are complications that you have not even tried to illustrate, using your current approach. For example, try constructing M01 having 2 observations with A=2, and examine the values you get for C. (Then try it with 3 observations with A=2.) In your final solution, you may end up adding the UNIQUE option after KEY=A. Good luck. ... Now that I've re-read the problem, this solution won't work. The poster who suggested you use MERGE is correct. This problem is ideal for MERGE, possibly adding the use of IN= variables. In the long run, you can't avoid learning MERGE when you program in SAS, so this might be the right time when you have a problem that requires it. (Or is the whole point of the problem to learn just how cumbersome the solution would be if you are not allowed to use MERGE when it is the right tool for the job?)

Astounding · ‎03-19-2012

michtka, I tried a similar test, and found I could omit the extra %. But if you want to learn, you should try testing it yourself. Good luck.

Astounding · ‎03-19-2012

shanesheu, Some of the metadata can help. When you run a PROC CONTENTS, there are two related pieces of information: SORTEDBY and VALIDATED. I imagine the metadata contains the same information. SORTEDBY is the sorted order. VALIDATED is a flag that indicates whether the sorted order is guaranteed (meaning the sorting was performed by either PROC SORT or PROC SQL). Just in case it helps ...

Astounding · ‎03-18-2012

Here's a simple version to try. data want (keep=col0 col1); set have; by assoc pref_term aeterm count; if first.assoc then do; col0=assoc; output; end; if first.pref_term then do; col0 = pref_term; output; end; col0 = aeterm; col1 = count; output; run; I assume that's a typo in the last line, for pref_term. Good luck.

Astounding · ‎03-16-2012

If you add the sortedby= option, you better be right! SAS will not check the sorted order for you. For example: proc sort data=mydata; by name; run; data mydata2 (sortedby=amount); set mydata; run; proc sort data=mydata2; by amount; run; The DATA step runs without error, even though the data are not in order. In addition, SAS skips the second PROC SORT, because it believes the data are in order. In most cases where sortedby= appears, the data are sorted. But there is no guarantee, so like I said, you better be right. Even this MERGE is legal: data combine; merge a b; by name; if amount > 5 then name='Fred'; run; Even though the data set is created when you MERGE BY NAME, the final data set is not in order by NAME. Of course this doesn't happen very often. But are the chances greater than zero? You decide. Good luck.

Astounding · ‎03-15-2012

Before, the parentheses were part of the %STR function, and they told SAS where to start and where to end applying the %STR function. That still applies to the exterior parentheses in the sample solution. They tell %STR where to start and where to end, so those parentheses don't need the extra %. These new parentheses are inside the %STR function. The %STR function is being applied to those characters. That's why %STR requires %( and %). Since the "inside" parentheses are balanced -- you have both a left then a right parenthesis -- you can try leaving out the % and see what happens. It might work, but I'm not able to test that right now. It will work using %( and %). Good luck.

Astounding · ‎03-15-2012

Take a look at the ID statement within PROC PRINT. Also consider whether you want the variable named ID to repeat or to print just once. Good luck.

Astounding · ‎03-15-2012

Take a look at PROC REPORT and the WRAP feature.

Astounding · ‎03-14-2012

Not so different: data want (drop=column3); set have; length admission $ 8; admission='noreadm'; output; column2=column3; admission='yesreadm'; output; run;

Astounding · ‎03-14-2012

If your objective is to re-shape an existing SAS data set, here's one way: data new; set old; array all4 {4} record1-record4; do _n_=1 to 4; if all4{_n_} > . then do; record = all4{_n_}; output; end; end; keep id record; run; If you have some other objective in mind, just let us know.

Astounding · ‎03-14-2012

A simple way: data want (drop=column3); set have; output; column2 = column3; output; run; The array versions are more scalable if you have lots of variables that require the same processing. But I'm not so sure that you need that. Good luck.

Astounding · ‎03-14-2012

Or simply: data want; length name country state $ 20; input name & country & state &; cards; shri bengal india shety Ka India ; The &s just allow an embedded blank to be part of the variable. They are not necessary when you have no embedded blanks. Good luck.

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