Date:         Thu, 30 Oct 1997 07:24:17 +0000
Reply-To:     "M. Esther Colwell" <mec7@ITSA.UCSF.EDU>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         "M. Esther Colwell" <mec7@ITSA.UCSF.EDU>
Subject:      Re: How to JOIN without SQL
In-Reply-To:  <01BCE4BA.E9091DB0.kmself@ix.netcom.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Another alternative is to access the SASHELP.VTABLE and put
the number of obs. in a macro variable, e.g.
 
Data _null_;
set sashelp.vtable;
where libname = 'Yourlibrary' and memname = 'Yourdata';
call symput('numobs', put(nobs,8.));
run;
 
 
 
 
 
At 10:30 PM 10/29/97 -0800, you wrote:
>To join the fray, I suspect that Tim's suggestion could be simplified by
>eliminating the first SET statement on ZIPFILE and moving the NOBS= option
>to the second set statement.  NOBS= is calculated at compile time, not
>execute time (I thin, very much, without actually being able to test it).
>
>To prove or refute, try the following, which never _executes_ the set
>statement.  I believe it should work as intended:
>
>     /* With apologies to the current thread on style */
>     data in; do i= 1 to 100; output; end; run;
>
>     data _null_;
>        put nobs=;
>        stop;
>        set in nobs= nobs;
>        run;
>
>I believe you will have
>     nobs= 100
>
>...output to your log.
>
>See below for appropriate modifications.
>
>
>On Wednesday, October 29, 1997 10:46 AM, Tim Berryhill 3rd time
>[SMTP:TWB2%Rates%FAR@bangate.pge.com] wrote:
>> Esther, I think your friend is concerned about a problem which does not
>> apply.
>> She would not actually need a STOP statement.  SAS does not stop a data
>> step for
>> reading the last obs using random access, so the reads to ZIPFILE would
>> not stop
>> the step.  Just to be cute I might avoid coding the number of obs in
>> ZIPFILE:
>>
>> DATA DISTFILE;
>>    /* if 0 then set zipfile nobs=maxobs; /* commented */
>>    SET HOSPFILE;
>>    DO OBSNUM=1 TO maxobs;
>>       SET ZIPFILE POINT=OBSNUM nobs= maxobs; /* nobs added */
>>       DISTANCE = .......................
>>       output;
>>    end;
>> run;
>>
>> Tim Berryhill - Contract Programmer and General Wizard
>> TWB2@PGE.COM or http://www.aartwolf.com/twb.html
>> Frequently at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., San Francisco
>> The correlation coefficient between their views and
>> my postings is slightly less than 0
>
>Karsten M. Self (kmself@ix.netcom.com)
>
>    What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
>    (Welchen Teil von <<Gestalt>> verstehn Sie nicht?)
>
>