Date:         Thu, 18 Jul 2002 14:32:48 +0800
Reply-To:     Leo Chan <leo.y.h.chan@GRADUATE.HKU.HK>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Leo Chan <leo.y.h.chan@GRADUATE.HKU.HK>
Subject:      Re: new notation for me: .X, .Z
Comments: To: "Dorfman, Paul" <Paul.Dorfman@bcbsfl.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Paul,

My explaination to this is very brief, so my suggestion is to read the
language guide in details.  There are pages for this topics in full details.

Leo
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dorfman, Paul" <Paul.Dorfman@bcbsfl.com>
To: "'Leo Chan'" <leo.y.h.chan@graduate.hku.hk>; <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 2:59 AM
Subject: RE: new notation for me: .X, .Z


> > From: Leo Chan [mailto:leo.y.h.chan@GRADUATE.HKU.HK]
> >
> > It is called special missing value and described in language
> > guide, the thickest sas manual. There are .A - .Z.
>
> Leo,
>
> Close but not quite. The principle is that there are as many missing
values
> as there are letters in the alphabet plus underscore and blank. Thus, the
> entire missing series is in the ascending order:
>
> ._ , .  , .a , .b , ... , .z
>
> So, by induction, the standard numeric missing is nothing else but
> "dot-blank". Now it seems to be quite logical, since the standard
character
> missing (granted, the only one there is) is just blank. And logical things
> are easy to remember by association.
>
> > Processing on those value are the same as "."  while they are difference
> in comparison and
> > grouping (include formatting).
>
> If I did not already know what you meant, I would not comprehend. I would,
> though, if you said something like "The system functions and procedures
> treat each of these values as a missing value, or null, but comparison
> operators evaluate them as different values according to the collating
> sequence shown above. The system can be opted to read corresponding
> characters as missing values. The standard numeric format prints missing
> values as their respective identifying characters,except for the standard
> missing (dot-blank), which is printed as a period".
>
> Kind regards,
> ====================
> Paul M. Dorfman
> Jacksonville, FL
> ====================
>
> > "Xavier Autret" <xav_x@noos.fr> wrote in message
> > news:f76de91b.0207170006.3c70e562@posting.google.com...
> > > That s very new for me...
> > > Can someone can explain the null numeric value like .X, .Z ...
>
>
> Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Inc., and its subsidiary and
> affiliate companies are not responsible for errors or omissions in this
e-mail message. Any personal comments made in this e-mail do not reflect the
views of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Inc.
>