SAS-Data selection within certain requirements - sas

I have a dataset as shown in this screenshot. In each day, each interval (e.g. 9:30:00) has multiple, repeated _RIC. For example, observation 2 and 3 (DDA211204700) are repeated.
I'd like to select every first _RIC in each interval in each day. For example, for 20120103, 09:30:00, I want to pick up Observation 1, 2, 4, 6, and so on.
I used the following code:
data test1;
do until (last.interval);
set test;
by _ric date_L_ interval;
if first._ric;
output;
end;
run;
Although the code seems to work as shown in this next screenshot, I still hope someone could help me to check my code because I really have little experience with SAS. Thanks!

Your data is not ordered properly to detect the first record for each _RIC within an INTERVAL. First sort the data properly and then your logic might work. Also there is a logic error in using the subsetting IF statement inside of a DOW loop since it will abort the outer DO loop. You wanted to just use a normal IF/THEN statement instead (if first._ric then output;) . But you really don't need a DOW loop for this situation. So we could use a subsetting IF.
You could sort by INTERVAL and then _RIC and date.
data WANT ;
set HAVE ;
by interval _ric date_L_ ;
if first._ric;
run;
Or you could get the same records if you sorted by _RIC and then INTERVAL and date and use FIRST.INTERVAL instead.

It seems that you want to get the earliest time_L_ in group, you could also try this:
proc sql;
select * from have group by _ric,interval having time_L_=min(time_L_);
quit;

Related

using by group processing First. and Last

I just start learning sas and would like some help with understanding the following chunk of code. The following program computes the annual payroll by department.
proc sort data = company.usa out=work.temp;
by dept;
run;
data company.budget(keep=dept payroll);
set work.temp;
by dept;
if wagecat ='S' then yearly = wagrate *12;
else if wagecat = 'H' then yearly = wagerate *2000;
if first.dept then payroll=0;
payroll+yearly;
if last.dept;
run;
Questions:
What does out = work.temp do in the first line of this code?
I understand the data step created 2 temporary variables for each by variable (first.varibale/last.variable) and the values are either 1 or 0, but what does first.dept and last.dept exactly do here in the code?
Why do we need payroll=0 after first.dept in the second to the last line?
This code takes the data for salaries and calculates the payroll amount for each department for a year, assuming salary is the same for all 12 months and that an hourly worker works 2000 hours.
It creates a copy of the data set which is sorted and stored in the work library. RTM.
From the docs
OUT= SAS-data-set
names the output data set. If SAS-data-set does not exist, then PROC SORT creates it.
CAUTION:
Use care when you use PROC SORT without OUT=.
Without the OUT= option, PROC SORT replaces the original data set with the sorted observations when the procedure executes without errors.
Default Without OUT=, PROC SORT overwrites the original data set.
Tips With in-database sorts, the output data set cannot refer to the input table on the DBMS.
You can use data set options with OUT=.
See SAS Data Set Options: Reference
Example Sorting by the Values of Multiple Variables
First.DEPT is an indicator variable that indicates the first observation of a specific BY group. So when you encounter the first record for a department it is identified. Last.DEPT is the last record for that specific department. It means the next record would the first record for a different department.
It sets PAYROLL to 0 at the first of each record. Since you have if last.dept; that means that only the last record for each department is outputted. This code is not intuitive - it's a manual way to sum the wages for people in each department. The common way would be to use a summary procedure, such as MEANS/SUMMARY but I assume they were trying to avoid having two passes of the data. Though if you're not sorting it may be just as fast anyways.
Again, RTM here. The SAS documentation is quite thorough on these beginner topics.
Here's an alternative method that should generate the exact same results but is more intuitive IMO.
data temp;
set company.usa;
if wagecat='S' then factor=12; *salary in months;
else if wagecat='H' then factor=2000; *salary in hours;
run;
proc means data=temp noprint NWAY;
class dept;
var wagerate;
weight factor;
output out=company.budget sum(wagerate)=payroll;
run;

"BY variables are not properly sorted" error although it was sorted already

I am using SAS for a large dataset (>20gb). When I run a DATA step, I received the "BY variables are not properly sorted ......" although I sorted the dataset by the same variables. When I ran the PROC SORT again, SAS even said "Input dataset is already sorted, No sorting done"
My code is:
proc sort data=output.TAQ;
by market ric date miliseconds descending type order;
run;
options nomprint;
data markers (keep=market ric date miliseconds type order);
set output.TAQ;
by market ric date;
if first.date;
* ie do the following once per stock-day;
* Make 1-second markers;
/*Type="AMARK"; Order=0; * Set order to zero to ensure that markers get placed before trades and quotes that occur at the same milisecond;
do i=((9*60*60)+(30*60)) to (16*60*60); miliseconds=i*1000; output; end;*/
run;
And the error message was:
ERROR: BY variables are not properly sorted on data set OUTPUT.TAQ.
RIC=CXR.CCP Date=20160914 Time=13:47:18.125 Type=Quote Price=. Volume=. BidPrice=9.03 BidSize=400
AskPrice=9.04 AskSize=100 Qualifiers= order=116458952 Miliseconds=49638125 exchange=CCP market=1
FIRST.market=0 LAST.market=0 FIRST.RIC=0 LAST.RIC=0 FIRST.Date=0 LAST.Date=1 i=. _ERROR_=1
_N_=43297873
NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
NOTE: There were 43297874 observations read from the data set OUTPUT.TAQ.
WARNING: The data set WORK.MARKERS may be incomplete. When this step was stopped there were
56770826 observations and 6 variables.
WARNING: Data set WORK.MARKERS was not replaced because this step was stopped.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 1:14.21
cpu time 26.71 seconds
The error is occurring deep into your data step, at _N_=43297873. That suggests to me that the PROC SORT is working up to a point, but then fails. It is hard to know what the reason is without knowing your SAS environment or how OUTPUT.TAQ is stored.
Some people have reported resource problems or file system limitations when sorting large data sets.
From SAS FAQ: Sorting Very Large Datasets with SAS (not an official source):
When sorting in a WORK folder, you must have free storage equal to 4x the size of the data set (or 5x if under Unix)
You may be running out of RAM
You may be able to use options MSGLEVEL=i and FULLSTIMER to get a fuller picture
Also using options sastraceloc=saslog; can produce helpful messages.
Maybe instead of sorting it, you could break it up into a few steps, something like:
/* Get your market ~ ric ~ date pairs */
proc sql;
create table market_ric_date as
select distinct market, ric, date
from output.TAQ
/* Possibly an order by clause here on market, ric, date */
; quit;
data millisecond_stuff;
set market_ric_date;
*Possibly add type/order in this step as well?;
do i=((9*60*60)+(30*60)) to (16*60*60); miliseconds=i*1000; output; end;
run;
/* Possibly a third step here to add type / order if you need to get from original data source */
If your source dataset is in a database, it may be sorted in a different collation.
Try the following before your sort:
options sortpgm=sas;
I had the same error, and the solution was to make a copy of the original table in the work directory, do the sort, and then the "by" was working.
In your case something like below:
data tmp_TAQ;
set output.TAQ;
run;
proc sort data=tmp_TAQ;
by market ric date miliseconds descending type order;
run;
data markers (keep=market ric date miliseconds type order);
set tmp_TAQ;
by market ric date;
if first.date;
* ie do the following once per stock-day;
* Make 1-second markers;
/*Type="AMARK"; Order=0; * Set order to zero to ensure that markers get placed before trades and quotes that occur at the same milisecond;
do i=((9*60*60)+(30*60)) to (16*60*60); miliseconds=i*1000; output; end;*/
run;

SAS Transpose Comma Separated Field

This is a follow-up to an earlier question of mine.
Transposing Comma-delimited field
The answer I got worked for the specific case, but now I have a much larger dataset, so reading it in a datalines statement is not an option. I have a dataset similar to the one created by this process:
data MAIN;
input ID STATUS STATE $;
cards;
123 7 AL,NC,SC,NY
456 6 AL,NC
789 7 ALL
;
run;
There are two problems here:
1: I need a separate row for each state in the STATE column
2: Notice the third observation says 'ALL'. I need to replace that with a list of the specific states, which I can get from a separate dataset (below).
data STATES;
input STATE $;
cards;
AL
NC
SC
NY
TX
;
run;
So, here is the process I am attempting that doesn't seem to be working.
First, I create a list of the STATES needed for the imputation, and a count of said states.
proc sql;
select distinct STATE into :all_states separated by ','
from STATES;
select count(distinct STATE) into :count_states
from STATES;
quit;
Second, I try to impute that list where the 'ALL' value appears for STATE. This is where the first error appears. How can I ensure that the variable STATE is long enough for the new value? Also, how do I handle the commas?
data x_MAIN;
set MAIN;
if STATE='ALL' then STATE="&all_states.";
run;
Finally, I use a SCAN function to read in one state at a time. I'm also getting an error here, but I think fixing the above part may solve it.
data x_MAIN_mod;
set x_MAIN;
array state(&count_states.) state:;
do i=1 to dim(state);
state(i) = scan(STATE,i,',');
end;
run;
Thanks in advance for the help!
Looks like you are almost there. Try this on the last Data Step.
data x_MAIN_mod;
set x_MAIN;
format out_state $2.;
nstate = countw(state,",");
do i=1 to nstate;
out_state = scan(state,i,",");
output;
end;
run;
Do you have to actually have two steps like that? You can use a 'big number' in a temporary variable and not have much effect on things, if you don't have the intermediate dataset.
data x_MAIN;
length state_temp $150;
set MAIN;
if STATE='ALL' then STATE_temp="&all_states.";
else STATE_temp=STATE;
array state(&count_states.) state:;
do i=1 to dim(state);
state(i) = scan(STATE,i,',');
end;
drop STATE_temp;
run;
If you actually do need the STATE, then honestly I'd go with the big number (=50*3, so not all that big) and then add OPTIONS COMPRESS=CHAR; which will (give or take) turn your CHAR fields into VARCHAR (at the cost of a tiny bit of CPU time, but usually far less than the disk read/write time saved).

New SAS variable conditional on observations

(first time posting)
I have a data set where I need to create a new variable (in SAS), based on meeting a condition related to another variable. So, the data contains three variables from a survey: Site, IDnumb (person), and Date. There can be multiple responses from different people but at the same site (see person 1 and 3 from site A).
Site IDnumb Date
a 1 6/12
b 2 3/4
c 4 5/1
a 3 .
d 5 .
I want to create a new variable called Complete, but it can't contain duplicates. So, when I go to proc freq, I want site A to be counted once, using the 6/12 Date of the Completed Survey. So basically, if a site is represented twice and contains a Date in one, I want to only count that one and ignore the duplicate site without a date.
N %
Complete 3 75%
Last Month 1 25%
My question may be around the NODUP and NODUPKEY possibilities. If I do a Proc Sort (nodupkey) by Site and Date, would that eliminate obs "a 3 ."?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the jumbled "table", as this is my first post (hints on making that better are also welcomed).
You can do this a number of ways.
First off, you need a complete/not complete binary variable. If you're in the datastep anyway, might as well just do it all there.
proc sort data=yourdata;
by site date descending;
run;
data yourdata_want;
set yourdata;
by site date descending;
if first.site then do;
comp = ifn(date>0,1,0);
output;
end;
run;
proc freq data=yourdata_want;
tables comp;
run;
If you used NODUPKEY, you'd first sort it by SITE DATE DESCENDING, then by SITE with NODUPKEY. That way the latest date is up top. You also could format COMP to have the text labels you list rather than just 1/0.
You can also do it with a format on DATE, so you can skip the data step (still need the sort/sort nodupkey). Format all nonmissing values of DATE to "Complete" and missing value of date to "Last Month", then include the missing option in your proc freq.
Finally, you could do the table in SQL (though getting two rows like that is a bit harder, you have to UNION two queries together).

Understanding the SAS PDV in by-group processing

While I've read quite a bit about conceptualizing the Program Data Vector when using a SAS data step, I still don't understand how the PDV works when there is by group processing. For example if I have the dataset olddata
GROUP VAL
A 10
A 5
B 20
And I call a datastep on it with a by statement, such as:
data newdata;
set olddata;
by group;
...
run;
then the compiler adds two temporary variables to the PDV: first.group and last.group. When you read any tutorial on the PDV it will tell you that on the first pass of the SET statement, the PDV will look like:
_N_ _ERROR_ FIRST.GROUP LAST.GROUP GROUP VAL
1 0 1 0 A 10
and that LAST.GROUP is zero because observation 1 is not the last observation in group A.
Herein lies my question: How does SAS know that this is not the last observation?
If SAS is processing olddata row-by-row, how is the PDV aware that the next row holds another group A observation instead of a new group? In other words, it seems like SAS must be using information from previous or future rows to update the FIRST and LAST variables, but I'm not sure how. Is there some trick in how the PDV retains values from row to row when the BY statement is called?
SAS actually looks ahead to the next record to see if it should set LAST.(var) or not. I haven't been able to find an article explaining that in any detail, unfortunately. I was a bit disappointed to see that even papers like http://www.wuss.org/proceedings09/09WUSSProceedings/papers/ess/ESS-Li1.pdf just gloss over how LAST is detemined.
SAS also looks ahead to see if the END= variable should be set, when specified, and a few other things. It's not just using metadata to determine those; you can remove or modify records without modifying the metadata, and it will still work - and SQL tables that don't have the usual SAS metadata will still allow you to perform normal BY group processing and such.
The FIRST variable doesn't need a look-behind, of course; it remembers where it was after all.
Edit: I crossposted this to SAS-L, and got the same answer - there doesn't seem to be any documentation of the subject, but it must read ahead. See http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind1303a&L=sas-l#8 for example.
Edit2: From SAS-L, Dan Nordlund linked to a paper that confirms this. http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings12/222-2012.pdf
The paper's logic that confirms the lookahead - look at the number of observations read from the data set.
DATA DS_Sample1;
Input Sum_Var
Product;
Cards;
100 3
100 2
100 1
;
*With BY statement - reads 3 observations even though it stops after 2.;
DATA DS_Sample2;
Set DS_Sample1;
by Sum_Var;
cnt+1; If CNT > 1 then stop;
Run;
*no BY statement - reads 2 observations as expected;
DATA DS_Sample2;
Set DS_Sample1;
cnt+1; If CNT > 1 then stop;
Run;
* END statement - again, a lookahead;
DATA DS_Sample2;
Set DS_Sample1 end=eof;
cnt+1; If CNT > 1 then stop;
Run;