Date:         Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:58:02 -0700
Reply-To:     "Nordlund, Dan (DSHS/RDA)" <NordlDJ@DSHS.WA.GOV>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Nordlund, Dan (DSHS/RDA)" <NordlDJ@DSHS.WA.GOV>
Subject:      Re: SET with OBS=0
Comments: To: Talbot Michael Katz <topkatz@MSN.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <200807071750.m67HF238031601@malibu.cc.uga.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Talbot Michael Katz
> Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 10:50 AM
> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: SET with OBS=0
>
> Hi.
>
> I was experimenting with the following code in SAS 9.01.01M3P020206 on
> HPUX:
>
> %let obsn=0;
> data _null_;
>  set myds (obs=&obsn.) nobs=nobs;
>  put nobs=;
>  call symput ("nobs",nobs);
> run;
> %put nobs = &nobs.;
>
> The put statement produced no output and the %put issued a
> warning that
> nobs did not resolve.  If I change macro variable obsn to 1 then
> everything works okay.  I wanted to use SET with OBS=0 as a
> way of getting
> some information, like the number of observations, without actually
> reading any observation information into the data vector.  Obviously,
> there are alternatives, such as OPEN and ATTRN, but my questions are:
>  Is there a way to get the number of observations from SET
> and OBS=0 (in
> other words, did I do something wrong)?
>  What information can you get from SET and OBS=0, if anything?
>
> Thanks!
>
> --  TMK  --
> "The Macro Klutz"
>

I think what you are looking for is

data _null_;
 id 0 then set myds nobs=nobs;
 put nobs=;
 call symput ("nobs",nobs);
run;

Hope this is helpful,

Dan

Daniel J. Nordlund
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
Planning, Performance, and Accountability
Research and Data Analysis Division
Olympia, WA  98504-5204