SAS 9.4 Language Reference, 6th Edition

This DATA step produces a SAS data set with the following variable values:

OBS X Y

1 4 .

2 1 2

3 3 .

4 1 2

When X equals 1, the value of Y is set to 2. Since no other statements set Y's value when

X is not equal to 1, Y remains missing (.) for those observations.

When Reading a SAS Data Set

When variables are read with a SET, MERGE, or UPDATE statement, SAS sets the

values to missing only before the first iteration of the DATA step. (If you use a BY

statement, the variable values are also set to missing when the BY group changes.) The

variables retain their values until new values become available (for example, through an

assignment statement or through the next execution of the SET, MERGE, or UPDATE

statement). Variables created with options in the SET, MERGE, and UPDATE statements

also retain their values from one iteration to the next.

When all rows in a data set in a match-merge operation (with a BY statement) are

processed, the variables in the output data set retain their values as described earlier.

That is, as long as there is no change in the BY value in effect when all of the rows in the

data set have been processed, the variables in the output data set retain their values from

the final observation. FIRST.variable and LAST.variable, the automatic variables that are

generated by the BY statement, both retain their values. Their initial value is 1.

When the BY value changes, the variables are set to missing and remain missing because

the data set contains no additional observations to provide replacement values. When all

of the rows in a data set in a one-to-one merge operation (without a BY statement) have

been processed, the variables in the output data set are set to missing and remain

missing.

When Missing Values Are Generated by SAS

Propagation of Missing Values in Calculations

SAS assigns missing values to prevent problems from arising. If you use a missing value

in an arithmetic calculation, SAS sets the result of that calculation to missing. Then, if

you use that result in another calculation, the next result is also missing. This action is

called propagation of missing values. SAS prints notes in the log to notify you which

arithmetic expressions have missing values and when they were created. However,

processing continues.

Invalid Operations

SAS prints a note in the log and assigns a missing value to the result if you try to

perform an invalid operation, such as the following:

• dividing by zero

• taking the logarithm of zero

When Missing Values Are Generated by SAS 87

• using an expression to produce a number too large to be represented as a floating-

point number (known as overflow)

Invalid Character-to-Numeric Conversions

SAS automatically converts character values to numeric values if a character variable is

used in an arithmetic expression. If a character value contains nonnumerical information

and SAS tries to convert it to a numeric value, a note is printed in the log, the result of

the conversion is set to missing, and the _ERROR_ automatic variable is set to 1.

Creating Special Missing Values

The result of any numeric missing value in a SAS expression is a period. Thus, both

special missing values and ordinary numeric missing values propagate as a period.

data a;

x=.d;

y=x+1;

put y=;

run;

This DATA step results in the following log:

Log 5.1 SAS Log Results for a Missing Value

130 data a;

131 x=.d;

132 y=x+1;

133 put y=;

134 run;

y=.

NOTE: Missing values were generated as a result of performing an operation on

missing values.

Each place is given by: (Number of times) at (Line):(Column).

1 at 132:10

NOTE: The data set WORK.A has 1 observations and 2 variables.

NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):

real time 0.00 seconds

cpu time 0.00 seconds

Preventing Propagation of Missing Values

If you do not want missing values to propagate in your arithmetic expressions, you can

omit missing values from computations by using the sample statistic functions. For

example, consider the following DATA step:

data test;

x=.;

y=5;

a=x+y;

b=sum(x,y);

c=5;

c+x;

put a= b= c=;

run;

88 Chapter 5 • Missing Values