Date:         Thu, 20 May 2010 08:59:12 -0700
Reply-To:     "Nordlund, Dan (DSHS/RDA)" <NordlDJ@DSHS.WA.GOV>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Nordlund, Dan (DSHS/RDA)" <NordlDJ@DSHS.WA.GOV>
Subject:      Re: How to delete observations with all variables missing?
In-Reply-To:  <AANLkTilw1QiSPD53ZWnmnrF-CXK6EIBXNVPSioJFylSe@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Data _null_;
> Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 8:37 AM
> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: How to delete observations with all variables missing?
>
> On 5/20/10, Joe Whitehurst <joewhitehurst@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Of course, it you wanted the data in a SAS dataset, you would still
> have to
> > define the variables.  But you could avoid defining the variables for
> > records with all missing values.
> >
> > data test;
> >  infile test
> >  input;
> >  if ^missing(_infile_) then input /* variable specifications*/;
> > run;
>
> You're on the right track but this will only work as written when the
> line is completely blank.  Not the case with the example data where
> the missing values are marked with a period.
>
>    if missing(compress(_infile_,'.')) then delete;
>
> Compressing the periods might be adequate but I'm sure there may be
> other scenarios where it would not.

One of those other scenarios would be where the data was delimited (tab, |, comma, etc.).  The delimiters will also need to be compressed out in the test.  If the data are delimited with '|', one could do something like

/* 5 numeric variables, missing are just missing */
data test;
  infile "c:\SAS_Examples\test_data.txt" dlm='|' dsd missover;
  input @;
  if missing(compress(_infile_, '|')) then delete;
  input a b c d e;
run;

Hope this is helpful,

Dan


Daniel J. Nordlund
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
Planning, Performance, and Accountability
Research and Data Analysis Division
Olympia, WA 98504-5204