Date:         Fri, 11 Jan 2002 07:08:31 -0500
Reply-To:     Gerhard Hellriegel <ghellrieg@T-ONLINE.DE>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Gerhard Hellriegel <ghellrieg@T-ONLINE.DE>
Subject:      Re: max(x)

On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 01:55:34 -0800, xhu <xhu@ALUDRA.USC.EDU> wrote:

>try
>
>proc sort data=your_dataset out=new_dataset;
>by x;
>run;
>data dataset1;
>set new_dataset end=last;
>if last then z=x;
>run;
>
>On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, Sebastian Hein wrote:
>
>> First I'd like to thank to you good people, who made all helpful
>> contributions to my beginners questions on RETAIN or better: lag/ diff/
>> merge-firstobs solution posted yesterday.
>> Sorry to bother you with another - probably - simple question:
>> How can I get the maximum value from a list (column not row) of values
>> and store it in a new variable "Z" ? max(X) does not work, because there
>> is only one value inside (see handbook).
>>     X        Z
>>     .         2
>>     2        2
>>     5        2
>>     7        2
>>     3        2
>>     .         2
>>
>>
>>
>>

another idea (don't know why it is 2 in the above example, shouldn't it be
7 ??):

proc sort data=your_dataset out=new_dataset;
  by descending x;
run;
data your_dataset;
 retain max;
 set new_dataset;
 if _n_=1 then max=x;
 z=max;
run;

or simpler (you don't need max):

proc sort data=your_dataset out=new_dataset;
  by descending x;
run;
data your_dataset;
 retain z;
 set new_dataset;
 if _n_=1 then z=x;
run;

another possibility (if you need the maximum at other places too:

proc sort data=your_dataset out=new_dataset;
  by descending x;
run;
data _null_;
  set new_dataset;
  if _n_=1 then call symput("max",x);
  stop;
run;
data your_dataset;
 set new_dataset;
 z=&max;
run;