Coalesce is also described in "SAS SQL Procedure User's Guide, Version 8" which, by the way, is a very nice manual - having (or is it "with") many examples. -- Larry Hoyle Policy Research Institute University of Kansas, Blake Hall 1541 Lilac Lane, Room 607 Lawrence, KS 66044-3177

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About that bumper sticker that demands "Question Authority": Who says so?

"Jack Hamilton" <JackHamilton@FIRSTHEALTH.COM> wrote in message news:sc7cdd15.015@firsthealth.com... > I think of it as "choose the first non-missing value". > > > > > -- > JackHamilton@FirstHealth.com > Manager, Technical Development > METRICS Department, First Health > West Sacramento, California USA > > > >>> "Michael L. Davis" <michael@BASSETTCONSULTING.COM> 02/27/2002 10:54 > AM >>> > Hello Myra, > > I'm sure is it documented somewhere but here is my understanding of > the > Coalesce function. Consider the following example: > > newstuff=coalesce(updt_var, hist_var) ; > > If updt_var is non-missing, newstuff is equal to updt_var. Otherwise, > newstuff is equal to hist_var. > > HTH. > > - Michael "Mad Doggy" Davis > > At 08:51 AM 2/27/2002 -0800, Myra Oltsik <myra@DATASQUARE.COM> wrote: > >I got a copy of an SQL query from someone to show me how he extracted > >data. It has the funciton COALESCE in it. Thought the SAS On-line > >documentation mentions it, the doc doesn't define it. From what I can > >tell, it concatinates two variables/columns into one. Am I correct? > > > >Thanks. > >Myra > > Michael L. Davis > Vice President > Bassett Consulting Services, Inc. > 10 Pleasant Drive > North Haven CT 06473-3712 > E-Mail: michael@bassettconsulting.com > Web: http://www.bassettconsulting.com > Telephone: 203-562-0640 > Facsimile: 203-498-1414 > Messages: 888-477-1412