Date:         Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:28:11 -0500
Reply-To:     Arthur Tabachneck <art297@NETSCAPE.NET>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Arthur Tabachneck <art297@NETSCAPE.NET>
Subject:      Re: Cannot drop or rename a variable
Comments: To: Kristen Facciolo <FACCIOLO@EMAIL.CHOP.EDU>

Kristen,

My guess would be that you are creating visit_date with your format
statement.

I think moving the rename to the set statement might solve your dilemma.
For example:

Data OthABXJC;
  Set OtherAbx (Rename=(Antibiotic=RecAbxName
      VisitDate2=Visit_Date));
  Format Visit_Date MMDDYY10.;
Run;

HTH,
Art
---------
On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:39:09 -0500, Kristen Facciolo
<FACCIOLO@EMAIL.CHOP.EDU> wrote:

>Hello all: I am getting the wierdest message when I try to drop the
>variable visit_date or rename another variable ( visitdate2 ) to
>visit_date in my dataset. Of course, visit_date is a common variable in
>all datasets, so I need to re-name the visidate2 variable (to
>visit_date) so that I can merge. I had a hard time bringing this
>particular table in from Access into SAS, so I am not sure if that is
>the reason. It would not read the visitdate column, and left it blank
>when I imported it. I had to create a new variable (visitdate2), and
>copy and paste the data into that column in the  EXCEL first to get the
>data in.
>Any ideas?
>Thanks,
>Kristen
>
>P.S. Below are my SAS error message
>WARNING: The variable Visit_Date in the DROP, KEEP, or RENAME list has
>never been referenced.
>NOTE: There were 390 observations read from the data set CVC.OTHERABX.
>NOTE: The data set WORK.OTHERABX has 390 observations and 5 variables.
>NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
>      real time           0.02 seconds
>      cpu time            0.01 seconds
>
>
>950  Data OthABXJC (Rename=(Antibiotic=RecAbxName
>VisitDate2=Visit_Date));
>951  Set OtherAbx;
>952  Format Visit_Date MMDDYY10.;
>953  Run;
>
>NOTE: Variable Visit_Date is uninitialized.
>WARNING: Variable Visit_Date already exists on file WORK.OTHABXJC.
>NOTE: There were 390 observations read from the data set
>WORK.OTHERABX.
>NOTE: The data set WORK.OTHABXJC has 390 observations and 5 variables.
>NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
>      real time           0.01 seconds
>      cpu time            0.01 seconds
>
>
>Kristen Facciolo, MPH
>Senior Research Assistant
>Infectious Diseases Department
>Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
>CHOP North
>3535 Market St, Room 1545
>Philadelphia, PA 19104
>facciolo@email.chop.edu
>(267) 426-5629 (phone)
>(215) 590- 0426 (fax)