Date:         Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:19:28 -0400
Reply-To:     Jack Clark <jclark@HILLTOP.UMBC.EDU>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Jack Clark <jclark@HILLTOP.UMBC.EDU>
Subject:      Re: COMPRESS function modifier not working as expected in
              PROC SQL
Comments: To: Dave Scocca <dave@scocca.org>
In-Reply-To:  <B6A80F4FF6BDA678CDB1BFF4@[10.8.2.178]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Dave,

You're right!  Thanks for the quick answer.

Jack





Jack Clark
Senior Research Analyst
phone: 410-455-6256
fax: 410-455-6850
jclark@hilltop.umbc.edu

University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Sondheim Hall, 3rd Floor
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD 21250




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From: Dave Scocca [mailto:dave@scocca.org]
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 2:18 PM
To: Jack Clark; SAS(r) Discussion
Subject: Re: [SAS-L] COMPRESS function modifier not working as expected
in PROC SQL


--On 10/24/2008 2:12 PM -0400 Jack Clark wrote:

> When I run it in PROC SQL, an ERROR is generated.
> 754
>
> 755  proc sql;
>
> 756     select compress(x,,"d") as y
>
>                           -
>
>                           22
>
> ERROR 22-322: Syntax error, expecting one of the following: a name, a
> quoted string,
>
>               a numeric constant, a datetime constant, a missing
value,
> BTRIM, INPUT, LOWER, PUT,
>
>               SUBSTRING, UPPER, USER.

It looks like the DATA step allows two consecutive commas to represent a

missing parameter, while SQL requires an explicit specification of the
missing parameter between the commas (as . or "").  The following should

work:

   proc sql;
      select compress(x,"","d") as y
      from   test
      ;
     quit;

Dave Scocca