Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 12:49:24 -0700
Reply-To: Paul Choate <pchoate@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From: Paul Choate <pchoate@EARTHLINK.NET>
Organization: Earthlink Network, Inc.
Subject: Re: Need help with SAS problem
Alan,
I don't know the structure of your data, but here are two approaches
that might work:
1) Sort your data by company, anlysis variable, and year. Use the lag
function to access the prior year's data for use with the current year.
2) Create a new variable that assigns an unique value to each record
grouping you intend to analyze. Use that variable in the class
statement of a proc means or summary.
Paul Choate
Alan Olinsky wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I'm sure that this problem has a simple solution, but I'm not sure of
> the best approach to use with SAS. I have extracted financial data
> from Compustat and I have it in the form of a SAS dataset. I have no
> problem referencing the variables or data in this set. The data that I
> extracted covers five years, 1991-1995, and contains several companies
> with various financial information about each one for each of the years.
> I need to reference a variable from two different years, say inventory,
> average the two values and then store the result in a new variable in the
> newer of the two years. I've tried to do this in various ways with the
> DATA Step, but haven't had any success. I'm sure that this is not a
> difficult problem, but I would appreciate some help in determining the
> best way to proceed. Please respond directly to me as I don't belong to
> the SAS-L list at this time. Thanks for your help.
> Alan
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> | Alan Olinsky <AOLINSKY@KEYNES.BRYANT.EDU> |
> | Bryant College |
> | Smithfield, RI 02917 |
> | (401) 232-6266 |
> ---------------------------------------------
| 
