Date:         Fri, 7 Jul 2006 12:44:01 -0400
Reply-To:     Jen Sabatier <plessthanpointohfive@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Jen Sabatier <plessthanpointohfive@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      finding minimum value in most efficient manner

Hello, all,

I have a dataset of individual's work histories.  So, there is are columns
for id, jobtitle, months.

data hx;
input id jobtitle $ months;
datalines;
1 Floater     3
1 Operator    1
1 Crew        8
1 Manager    30
2 Operator    5
2 Crew        2
3 Helper      1
4 Helper     10
4 Operator   56
4 Supervisor 22
4 Manager    10
.
.
.
;


So, we have unequal lengths to the actual work history.  Some people held
several jobs, some just a few, and some only one.

What I need to do is locate the shortest job held for each person for people
who held more than one job, flag it and the jobs before and/or after it.  I
will need to examine the previous and/or prior job along with the shortest
job. If a person held only one job then I need to flag them seperately.

I've tried to do this with an array but I can't make it work.  I know it
must be simple.

Hope someone can help!