Append of Tables with the Same Variables but Differing Attributes - sas

My question is about the append of two different tables that are supposed to have the same name/format/type/length variables.
I am trying to create a step in my SAS program where I don't allow my program to be executed if the format/type/length of variables with the same name is not the same.
For example, when in one table I have a date in type string "dd-mm-yyyy" and in the other table I have the "yyyy-mm-dd" or "dd-mm-yyyy hh:mm:ss". After the append, our daily executions based on these input tables didn't work as expected. Sometimes the values come up as missing or out of order, since the formats are different.
I tried using the PROC COMPARE statement, which allowed me to check which variables have Differing Attributes (Type, Length, Format, InFormat and Labels).
proc compare base = SAS-data-set
compare = SAS-data-set;
run;
However, I only got the info on which variables have differing atributes (listing of common variables with differing attributes), not being able to do anything with/about it.
On the other hand, I would like to know if there's a chance to have a structured output table with this information, in order to use it as a control statement.
Creating an automatic task to do it would save me a lot of time.
Screenshot of an example:

You can use Proc CONTENTS to get information about a data sets variables. Do that for both data sets, and then you can use Proc COMPARE to create a data set informing you of the variable attributes differences.
data cars1;
set sashelp.cars (obs=10);
date = today ();
format date date9.;
cars1_only = 1;
x = 1.458; label x = "x-factor";
run;
data cars2;
length type $50;
set sashelp.cars (obs=10);
format date yymmdd10.;
cars2_only = 1;
X = 1.548; label x = "X factor to apply";
run;
proc contents noprint data=cars1 out=cars1_contents;
proc contents noprint data=cars2 out=cars2_contents;
run;
data cars1_contents;
set cars1_contents;
upName = upcase(Name);
run;
data cars2_contents;
set cars2_contents;
upName = upcase(Name);
run;
proc sort data=cars1_contents; by upName;
proc sort data=cars2_contents; by upName;
run;
proc compare noprint
base=cars1_contents
compare=cars2_contents
outall
out=cars_contents_compare (where=(_TYPE_ ne 'PERCENT'))
;
by upName;
run;
There is also an ODS table you can capture directly without having to run Proc CONTENTS, but the capture is not 'data-rific'
ods output CompareVariables=work.cars_vars;
proc compare base=cars1 compare=cars2;
run;

Related

Why is my SAS output giving me different results than my proc means statement?

my proc means data is just how I want it. But, when I try to output the data to an excel it does not look the same. How do I fix this?
/*Means average value by state*/
proc means data = merged;
class statename state;
var valueh;
output out = statedata1 MEAN = valueh;
run;
/*Export the Data*/
proc export data = statedata outfile= '/home/...' dbms= xlsx replace;
run;
proc print data = statedata;
run;
The data appears fine but when I output it to an excel it is separating my state and statename variables instead of keeping them combined. Attached is a picture the proc means output as well as the proc print after I exported the data.
The dataset produced does not not need to look like the REPORT produced.
In particular the default for the report is to only include the results that use all of the class variables. And the default for the generated dataset is to include the summary for all possible combinations of the class variables. With 2 class variables there are four possible combinations (which reflected in the _TYPE_ variable). Overall (none), Each one separately and both together.
If you want the report in your Excel file why not use ODS EXCEL.
/*Export the Report*/
ods excel file='/home/...';
proc means data = merged;
class statename state;
var valueh;
run;
ods excel close;
If you only want the results that include both CLASS variables then you could add the NWAY option to the PROC MEANS statement.
proc means data = merged nway;
Or use the TYPES or WAYS statement to control which combinations are produced.
Or just filter in the export.
proc export data = statedata(where=(_type_=3))
outfile= '/home/...' dbms= xlsx replace
;
run;

PROC FREQ on multiple variables combined into one table

I have the following problem. I need to run PROC FREQ on multiple variables, but I want the output to all be on the same table. Currently, a PROC FREQ statement with something like TABLES ERstatus Age Race, InsuranceStatus; will calculate frequencies for each variable and print them all on separate tables. I just want the data on ONE table.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
P.S. I tried using PROC TABULATE, but it didn't not calculate N correctly, so I'm not sure what I did wrong. Here is my code for PROC TABULATE. My variables are all categorical, so I just need to know N and percentages.
PROC TABULATE DATA = BCanalysis;
CLASS ERstatus PRstatus Race TumorStage InsuranceStatus;
TABLE (ERstatus PRstatus Race TumorStage) * (N COLPCTN), InsuranceStatus;
RUN;
The above code does not return the correct frequencies based on InsuranceStatus where 0 = insured and 1 = uninsured, but PROC FREQ does. Also doesn't calculate correctly with ROWPCTN. So any way that I can get PROC FREQ to calculate multiple variables on one table, or PROC TABULATE to return the correct frequencies, would be appreciated.
Here is a nice image of my output in a simplified analysis of only ERstatus and InsuranceStatus. You can see that PROC FREQ returns 204 people with an ERstatus of 1 and InsuranceStatus of 1. That's correct. The values in PROC TABULATE are not.
OUTPUT
I'll answer this separately as this is answering the other possible interpretation of the question; when it's clarified I'll delete one or the other.
If you want this in a single printed table, then you either need to use proc tabulate or you need to normalize your data - meaning put it in the form of variable | value. PROC FREQ is not capable of doing multiple one-way frequencies in a single table.
For PROC TABULATE, likely your issue is missing data. Any variable that is on the class statement will be checked for missingness, and if any rows are missing data for any of the class variables, those rows are entirely excluded from the tabulation for all variables.
You can override this by adding the missing option on the class statement, or in the table statement, or in the proc tabulate statement. So:
PROC TABULATE DATA = BCanalysis;
CLASS ERstatus PRstatus Race TumorStage InsuranceStatus/missing;
TABLE (ERstatus PRstatus Race TumorStage) * (N COLPCTN), InsuranceStatus;
RUN;
This will result in a slightly different appearance than on your table, though, as it will include the missing rows in places you probably do not want them, and they'll be factored against the colpctn when again you probably don't want them.
Typically some manipulation is then necessary; the easiest is to normalize your data and then run a tabulation (using PROC TABULATE or PROC FREQ, whichever is more appropriate; TABULATE has better percentaging options though) against that normalized dataset.
Let's say we have this:
data class;
set sashelp.class;
if _n_=5 then call missing(age);
if _n_=3 then call missing(sex);
run;
And we want these two tables in one table.
proc freq data=class;
tables age sex;
run;
If we do this:
proc tabulate data=class;
class age sex;
tables (age sex),(N colpctn);
run;
Then we get an N=17 total for both subtables - that's not what we want, we want N=18. Then we can do:
proc tabulate data=class;
class age sex/missing;
tables (age sex),(N colpctn);
run;
But that's not quite right either; I want F to have 8/18 = 44.44% and M 10/18 = 55.55%, not 42% and 53% with 5% allocated to the missing row.
The way I do this is to normalize the data. This means you get a dataset with 2 variables, varname and val, or whatever makes sense for your data, plus whatever identifier/demographic/whatnot variables you might have. val has to be character unless all of your values are numeric.
So for example here I normalize class with age and sex variables. I don't keep any identifiers, but you certainly could in your data, I imagine InsuranceStatus would be kept there if I understand what you're doing in that table. Once I have the normalized table, I just use those two variables, and carefully construct a denominator definition in proc tabulate to have the right basis for my pctn value. It's not quite the same as the single table before - the variable name is in its own column, not on top of the list of values - but honestly that looks better in my opinion.
data class_norm;
set class;
length val $2;
varname='age';
val=put(age,2. -l);
if not missing(age) then output;
varname='sex';
val=sex;
if not missing(sex) then output;
keep varname val;
run;
proc tabulate data=class_norm;
class varname val;
tables varname=' '*val=' ',n pctn<val>;
run;
If you want something better than this, you'll probably have to construct it in proc report. That gives you the most flexibility, but is the most onerous to program in also.
You can use ODS OUTPUT to get all of the PROC FREQ output to one dataset.
ods output onewayfreqs=class_freqs;
proc freq data=sashelp.class;
tables age sex;
run;
ods output close;
or
ods output crosstabfreqs=class_tabs;
proc freq data=sashelp.class;
tables sex*(height weight);
run;
ods output close;
Crosstabfreqs is the name of the cross-tab output, while one-way frequencies are onewayfreqs. You can use ods trace to find out the name if you forget it.
You may (probably will) still need to manipulate this dataset some to get the structure you want ultimately.

Create new variables from format values

What i want to do: I need to create a new variables for each value labels of a variable and do some recoding. I have all the value labels output from a SPSS file (see sample).
Sample:
proc format; library = library ;
value SEXF
1 = 'Homme'
2 = 'Femme' ;
value FUMERT1F
0 = 'Non'
1 = 'Oui , occasionnellement'
2 = 'Oui , régulièrement'
3 = 'Non mais j''ai déjà fumé' ;
value ... (many more with different amount of levels)
The new variable name would be the actual one without F and with underscore+level (example: FUMERT1F level 0 would become FUMERT1_0).
After that i need to recode the variables on this pattern:
data ds; set ds;
FUMERT1_0=0;
if FUMERT1=0 then FUMERT1_0=1;
FUMERT1_1=0;
if FUMERT1=1 then FUMERT1_1=1;
FUMERT1_2=0;
if FUMERT1=2 then FUMERT1_2=1;
FUMERT1_3=0;
if FUMERT1=3 then FUMERT1_3=1;
run;
Any help will be appreciated :)
EDIT: Both answers from Joe and the one of data_null_ are working but stackoverflow won't let me pin more than one right answer.
Update to add an _ underscore to the end of each name. It looks like there is not option for PROC TRANSREG to put an underscore between the variable name and the value of the class variable so we can just do a temporary rename. Create rename name=newname pairs to rename class variable to end in underscore and to rename them back. CAT functions and SQL into macro variables.
data have;
call streaminit(1234);
do caseID = 1 to 1e4;
fumert1 = rand('table',.2,.2,.2) - 1;
sex = first(substrn('MF',rand('table',.5),1));
output;
end;
stop;
run;
%let class=sex fumert1;
proc transpose data=have(obs=0) out=vnames;
var &class;
run;
proc print;
run;
proc sql noprint;
select catx('=',_name_,cats(_name_,'_')), catx('=',cats(_name_,'_'),_name_), cats(_name_,'_')
into :rename1 separated by ' ', :rename2 separated by ' ', :class2 separated by ' '
from vnames;
quit;
%put NOTE: &=rename1;
%put NOTE: &=rename2;
%put NOTE: &=class2;
proc transreg data=have(rename=(&rename1));
model class(&class2 / zero=none);
id caseid;
output out=design(drop=_: inter: rename=(&rename2)) design;
run;
%put NOTE: _TRGIND(&_trgindn)=&_trgind;
First try:
Looking at the code you supplied and the output from Joe's I don't really understand the need for the formats. It looks to me like you just want to create dummies for a list of class variables. That can be done with TRANSREG.
data have;
call streaminit(1234);
do caseID = 1 to 1e4;
fumert1 = rand('table',.2,.2,.2) - 1;
sex = first(substrn('MF',rand('table',.5),1));
output;
end;
stop;
run;
proc transreg data=have;
model class(sex fumert1 / zero=none);
id caseid;
output out=design(drop=_: inter:) design;
run;
proc contents;
run;
proc print data=design(obs=40);
run;
One good alternative to your code is to use proc transpose. It won't get you 0's in the non-1 cells, but those are easy enough to get. It does have the disadvantage that it makes it harder to get your variables in a particular order.
Basically, transpose once to vertical, then transpose back using the old variable name concatenated to the variable value as the new variable name. Hat tip to Data null for showing this feature in a recent SAS-L post. If your version of SAS doesn't support concatenation in PROC TRANSPOSE, do it in the data step beforehand.
I show using PROC EXPAND to then set the missings to 0, but you can do this in a data step as well if you don't have ETS or if PROC EXPAND is too slow. There are other ways to do this - including setting up the dataset with 0s pre-proc-transpose - and if you have a complicated scenario where that would be needed, this might make a good separate question.
data have;
do caseID = 1 to 1e4;
fumert1 = rand('Binomial',.3,3);
sex = rand('Binomial',.5,1)+1;
output;
end;
run;
proc transpose data=have out=want_pre;
by caseID;
var fumert1 sex;
copy fumert1 sex;
run;
data want_pre_t;
set want_pre;
x=1; *dummy variable;
run;
proc transpose data=want_pre_t out=want delim=_;
by caseID;
var x;
id _name_ col1;
copy fumert1 sex;
run;
proc expand data=want out=want_e method=none;
convert _numeric_ /transformin=(setmiss 0);
run;
For this method, you need to use two concepts: the cntlout dataset from proc format, and code generation. This method will likely be faster than the other option I presented (as it passes through the data only once), but it does rely on the variable name <-> format relationship being straightforward. If it's not, a slightly more complex variation will be required; you should post to that effect, and this can be modified.
First, the cntlout option in proc format makes a dataset of the contents of the format catalog. This is not the only way to do this, but it's a very easy one. Specify the appropriate libname as you would when you create a format, but instead of making one, it will dump the dataset out, and you can use it for other purposes.
Second, we create a macro that performs your action one time (creating a variable with the name_value name and then assigning it to the appropriate value) and then use proc sql to make a bunch of calls to that macro, once for each row in your cntlout dataset. Note - you may need a where clause here, or some other modifications, if your format library includes formats for variables that aren't in your dataset - or if it doesn't have the nice neat relationship your example does. Then we just make those calls in a data step.
*Set up formats and dataset;
proc format;
value SEXF
1 = 'Homme'
2 = 'Femme' ;
value FUMERT1F
0 = 'Non'
1 = 'Oui , occasionnellement'
2 = 'Oui , régulièrement'
3 = 'Non mais j''ai déjà fumé' ;
quit;
data have;
do caseID = 1 to 1e4;
fumert1 = rand('Binomial',.3,3);
sex = rand('Binomial',.5,1)+1;
output;
end;
run;
*Dump formats into table;
proc format cntlout=formats;
quit;
*Macro that does the above assignment once;
%macro spread_var(var=, val=);
&var._&val.= (&var.=&val.); *result of boolean expression is 1 or 0 (T=1 F=0);
%mend spread_var;
*make the list. May want NOPRINT option here as it will make a lot of calls in your output window otherwise, but I like to see them as output.;
proc sql;
select cats('%spread_var(var=',substr(fmtname,1,length(Fmtname)-1),',val=',start,')')
into :spreadlist separated by ' '
from formats;
quit;
*Actually use the macro call list generated above;
data want;
set have;
&spreadlist.;
run;

Determining the frequency of ONLY certain values in all variables of a data set

I'd like to get a frequency table that lists all variables, but only tells me the number of times "-2", "-1" and "M" appear in each variable.
Currently, when I run the following code:
proc freq data=mydata;
tables _ALL_
/list missing;
I get one table for each variable and all of its values (sometimes 100s). Can I just get tables with the three values I want, and everything else suppressed?
You can do this a number of ways.
First off, you probably want to do this to a dataset first to allow you to filter that dataset. I would use PROC TABULATE, but you can use PROC FREQ if you like it better.
*make up some data;
data mydata;
call streaminit(132);
array x[100];
do _i = 1 to 50;
do _t = 1 to dim(x);
x[_t]= floor(rand('Uniform')*9-5);
end;
output;
end;
keep x:;
run;
ods _all_ close; *close the 'visible' output types;
ods output onewayfreqs=outdata; *output the onewayfreqs (one way frequency tables) to a dataset;
proc freq data=mydata;
tables _all_/missing;
run;
ods output close; *close the dataset;
ods preferences; *open back up your default outputs;
Then filter it, and once you've done that print it however you want. Note in the PROC FREQ output, you get a column for each different variable - not super helpful. The F_ variables are the formatted values, which can then be combined using coalesce. I assume here they're all numeric variables - define f_val as character and use coalescec if there are any character variables or variables with character-ish formats applied to them.
data has_values;
set outdata;
f_val = coalesce(of f_:);
keep table f_val frequency percent;
if f_val in (0,-1,-2);
run;
The last line keeps only the 0,-1,-2.

SAS - Creating variables from macro variables

I have a SAS dataset which has 20 character variables, all of which are names (e.g. Adam, Bob, Cathy etc..)
I would like a dynamic code to create variables called Adam_ref, Bob_ref etc.. which will work even if there a different dataset with different names (i.e. don't want to manually define each variable).
So far my approach has been to use proc contents to get all variable names and then use a macro to create macro variables Adam_ref, Bob_ref etc..
How do I create actual variables within the dataset from here? Do I need a different approach?
proc contents data=work.names
out=contents noprint;
run;
proc sort data = contents; by varnum; run;
data contents1;
set contents;
Name_Ref = compress(Name||"_Ref");
call symput (NAME, NAME_Ref);
%put _user_;
run;
If you want to create an empty dataset that has variables named like some values you have in a macro variables you could do something like this.
Save the values into macro variables that are named by some pattern, like v1, v2 ...
proc sql;
select compress(Name||"_Ref") into :v1-:v20 from contents;
quit;
If you don't know how many values there are, you have to count them first, I assumed there are only 20 of them.
Then, if all your variables are character variables of length 100, you create a dataset like this:
%macro create_dataset;
data want;
length %do i=1 %to 20; &&v&i $100 %end;
;
stop;
run;
%mend;
%create_dataset; run;
This is how you can do it if you have the values in macro variable, there is probably a better way to do it in general.
If you don't want to create an empty dataset but only change the variable names, you can do it like this:
proc sql;
select name into :v1-:v20 from contents;
quit;
%macro rename_dataset;
data new_names;
set have(rename=(%do i=1 %to 20; &&v&i = &&v&i.._ref %end;));
run;
%mend;
%rename_dataset; run;
You can use PROC TRANSPOSE with an ID statement.
This step creates an example dataset:
data names;
harry="sally";
dick="gordon";
joe="schmoe";
run;
This step is essentially a copy of your step above that produces a dataset of column names. I will reuse the dataset namerefs throughout.
proc contents data=names out=namerefs noprint;
run;
This step adds the "_Refs" to the names defined before and drops everything else. The variable "name" comes from the column attributes of the dataset output by PROC CONTENTS.
data namerefs;
set namerefs (keep=name);
name=compress(name||"_Ref");
run;
This step produces an empty dataset with the desired columns. The variable "name" is again obtained by looking at column attributes. You might get a harmless warning in the GUI if you try to view the dataset, but you can otherwise use it as you wish and you can confirm that it has the desired output.
proc transpose out=namerefs(drop=_name_) data=namerefs;
id name;
run;
Here is another approach which requires less coding. It does not require running proc contents, does not require knowing the number of variables, nor creating a macro function. It also can be extended to do some additional things.
Step 1 is to use built-in dictionary views to get the desired variable names. The appropriate view for this is dictionary.columns, which has alias of sashelp.vcolumn. The dictionary libref can be used only in proc sql, while th sashelp alias can be used anywhere. I tend to use sashelp alias since I work in windows with DMS and can always interactively view the sashelp library.
proc sql;
select compress(Name||"_Ref") into :name_list
separated by ' '
from sashelp.vcolumn
where libname = 'WORK'
and memname = 'NAMES';
quit;
This produces a space delimited macro vaiable with the desired names.
Step 2 To build the empty data set then this code will work:
Data New ;
length &name_list ;
run ;
You can avoid assuming lengths or create populated dataset with new variable names by using a slightly more complicated select statement.
For example
select compress(Name)||"_Ref $")||compress(put(length,best.))
into :name_list
separated by ' '
will generate a macro variable which retains the previous length for each variable. This will work with no changes to step 2 above.
To create populated data set for use with rename dataset option, replace the select statement as follows:
select compress(Name)||"= "||compress(_Ref")
into :name_list
separated by ' '
Then replace the Step 2 code with the following:
Data New ;
set names (rename = ( &name_list)) ;
run ;