Date:         Wed, 26 Feb 2003 13:30:56 -0800
Reply-To:     Patrick.F.O'Neill@KP.ORG
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Patrick F. O'Neill" <Patrick.F.O'Neill@KP.ORG>
Subject:      Multiple lengths warning
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Dear SAS-L._all_ ,

I'm trying to understand this warning (after a merge):

WARNING: Multiple lengths were specified for the BY variable FRM_DEPT by
input  data sets. This may
         cause unexpected results.

When I try and produce such a warning with the following code, I don't get
one (but the lengths on the two data sets are different).

DATA           ONE     ;
     LENGTH    KEY $3
               COLOR $20  ;
KEY = '01 ' ; COLOR = 'RED'; OUTPUT;
KEY = '02 ' ; COLOR = 'BLUE'; OUTPUT;
RUN;

 DATA           TWO     ;
      LENGTH    KEY $2
                ANIMAL $20 ;
 KEY = '01' ; ANIMAL = 'CAT'; OUTPUT;
 KEY = '02' ; ANIMAL = 'DOG'; OUTPUT;
RUN;

DATA           MERGED1 ;
     MERGE     ONE
               TWO;
     BY        KEY;
RUN;

But when I change dataset TWO to have  LENGTH    KEY $20
then the warning is printed in the log.  Are lengths $3 and $2 close
enough for SAS not to warn me?

What am I missing?
Thanks,
Pat

Patrick F. O'Neill
Kaiser Permanente
TPMG HR Systems and Administration
1800  Harrison 7th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612