Match-Merging Causing Concatenated Data - sas

Question

I am trying to match merge two data sets by the variable "country". Both data sets contain the variable country (one has it named as "name" but was changed to country) and other variables, one data set (data1) contains continent information. However, I run into the issue of SAS just concatenating the data sets, that is, stacking them on top of one another.
I have tried the basics, sorting the data sets by the same by variables and making sure to use the by statement when merging the data sets.
proc sort data=data1;
by name;
run;
proc sort data=data2;
by country;
run;
data merged_data;
length continent $ 20 country $ 200;
merge data1(rename=(name=country)) data2;
by country;
run;
The result of this code is the data sets just being stacked on top of one another. My goal is to attach the continent to the country, ie identify the continent of each country.
data1:
Continent Name
Asia China
Australia New Zealand
Europe France
data2:
Country Var City
China 1.2 Beijing, China
New Zealand 3.5 Auckland, New Zealand
France 2.8 Paris, France
data I want:
Country Var City Continent
China 1.2 Beijing, China Asia
New Zealand 3.5 Auckland, New Zealand Australia
France 2.8 Paris, France Europe
data I get:
Country Var City Continent
China 1.2 Beijing, China
New Zealand 3.5 Auckland, New Zealand
France 2.8 Paris, France
China Asia
New Zealand Australia
France Europe

Answer 1

From my example data your logic works for me. Maybe your error has to do with your length statement
Data Df1;
INPUT Country $1-18 #19 Temp;
datalines;
United States 87
Canada 68
Mexico 88
Russia 77
China 55
;
Run;
Data Df2;
INPUT name $1-18 #19 season $;
datalines;
United States Summer
Canada Summer
Mexico Summer
Russia Winter
China Winter
;
Run;
Proc sort data=Df1;
by Country;
Proc sort data= Df2;
by Name;
Run;
Data Merged_data;
merge Df1 Df2(rename=(name=country));
by country;
Run;

Answer 2

Make sure the values of the variables are what you think they are. Print the values using $QUOTE. format. Look at the results using fixed length font. etc.
Perhaps one has the actual values you see and the other has a code that is decoded by a format to the values you see.
If it is not an issue of formatted value versus actual value then perhaps the records in DATA2 have leading spaces.
This program produces the result you are showing. If you remove the leading spaces from COUNTRY in DATA2 then the merge works as expected.
data data1 ;
input Continent $13. Name $15.;
cards;
Asia China
Australia New Zealand
Europe France
;
data data2;
input Country $15. Var City $25.;
country=' '||country;
cards;
China 1.2 Beijing, China
New Zealand 3.5 Auckland, New Zealand
France 2.8 Paris, France
;
proc sort data=data1; by name; run;
proc sort data=data2; by country; run;
data want ;
merge data2 data1(rename=(name=country)) ;
by country;
run;
Results:
Obs Country Var City Continent
1 China 1.2 Beijing, China
2 France 2.8 Paris, France
3 New Zealand 3.5 Auckland, New Zealand
4 China . Asia
5 France . Europe
6 New Zealand . Australia