SAS Certification Prep Guide: Base Programming for SAS 9, Third Edition

Interpreting Error Messages

Error Types

So far, the programs that are shown in this chapter have been error-free, but programming errors do occur. SAS can detect several types of errors. The most common are

• syntax errors that occur when program statements do not conform to the rules of the SAS language
• data errors that occur when some data values are not appropriate for the SAS statements that are specified in a program.

This chapter focuses on identifying and correcting syntax errors.

Syntax Errors

When you submit a program, SAS scans each statement for syntax errors, and then executes the step (if no syntax errors are found). SAS then goes to the next step and repeats the process. Syntax errors, such as misspelled ...