Re: weird problem with array name

Now you've raised my curiosity. The following works on my machine (sas
9.1.3 in a windows 2003 server environment):

data apusof_tot3 ;
input x award1-award6 paymnt1-paymnt9;
array awrdr[6] award1-award6 ;
array pmtr[9] paymnt1-paymnt9 ;
array awd[10,8] ;
array pmt[10,12] ;
array yrs[10] ;
array code[10] $ 6 ;
retain pmt yrs code awd ;
do i=1 to 10;
do j=1 to 8;
awd(i,j)=1;
end;
do j=1 to 12;
pmt(i,j)=1;
end;
yrs(i)=1;
code(i)='abcdef';
end;
cards;
1 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
3 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
4 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
5 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
;

Will the above code run correctly on your machine? If not, what version
of SAS are you using and in with which operating system?

Art
-------
On Fri, 7 Nov 2008 04:06:01 -0800, Davwein <dav.wein@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

>On Nov 6, 8:56 pm, Nord...@DSHS.WA.GOV ("Nordlund, Dan (DSHS/RDA)")
>wrote:
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SA...@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> > Behalf Of Davwein
>> > Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 5:33 PM
>> > To: SA...@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > Subject: weird problem with array name
>>
>> > I was creating a small bit of code to combine records using arrays.
>> > One variable of interest was financial aid awards, so I created an
>> > array with the name awd[10,8]. This array was used to collect data
>> > across multiple records so I included it in a retain statement:
>>
>> > data sasc.apusof_tot3 ;
>> > set sasc.apusof_tot2 (obs=20) ;
>> > by key ;
>> > file print ;
>> > array awrdr[6] award1-award6 ;
>> > array pmtr[9] paymnt1-paymnt9 ;
>> > array awd[10,8] ;
>> > array pay[10,12] ;
>> > array yrs[10] ;
>> > array code[10] $ 6 ;
>> > retain pay yrs code awd ;
>> > ...
>>
>> > When I begin checking the code I found errors in this array when
>> > reading 2nd and later records in the group and determined that the
>> > array was not retaining data in the first 8 positions. I had
>> > previously used pmt[10,12] and got a warning from SAS about a pmt()
>> > function, but the code still worked. But I changed it to pay[10,12] in
>> > the hopes it would fix the problem with the awd array. No joy. After
>> > printing results out and all critical junctures of the program, I
>> > could not find a coding error.
>>
>> > Being desperate, I decided to change the name of the array to
>> > awrd[10,8]. Now the code worked perfectly.
>>
>> > I tried to determine if there was a SAS function awd() but could not
>> > find one. Note that the other arrays in the retain statement had no
>> > problems in retaining values.
>>
>> > Can anyone enlighten me?
>>
>> Try declaring your pay, yrs, code, and awd arrays as temporary and
eliminate the retain statement. Temporary arrays are automatically
retained.
>>
>> data sasc.apusof_tot3 ;
>> set sasc.apusof_tot2 (obs=20) ;
>> by key ;
>> file print ;
>> array awrdr[6] award1-award6 ;
>> array pmtr[9] paymnt1-paymnt9 ;
>> array awd[10,8] _temporary_ ;
>> array pay[10,12] _temporary_ ;
>> array yrs[10] _temporary_ ;
>> array code[10] $6 _temporary_ ;
>> ...
>>
>> Hope this is helpful,
>>
>> Dan10.8]
>>
>> Daniel J. Nordlund
>> Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
>> Planning, Performance, and Accountability
>> Research and Data Analysis Division
>> Olympia, WA 98504-5204
>
>I did solve the problem by giving the array a different name - was
>just wondering why awrd[10,8] works while awd[10,8] does not. Thanks
>for the tip on temporary spec - didn't know that.