Date:         Tue, 3 Oct 2006 15:46:52 -0700
Reply-To:     avi <aviben@BEZEQINT.NET.IL>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         avi <aviben@BEZEQINT.NET.IL>
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Subject:      Surprising retain feature
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello,

Though an quite experienced user of SAS, i was quite surprised to learn
that in some cases, observations retain their values from one obs to
another, without specifying the RETAIN statement
("When variables are read with a SET, MERGE, or UPDATE , The variables
retain their values until new values become available").

Could someone explain exactly what and why it happens and the way to
overcome the problem thaht has caused some disturbing results in one of
my applications?


Thaks a lot
Avi