Date:         Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:57:28 -0500
Reply-To:     Paul Dorfman <sashole@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Paul Dorfman <sashole@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject:      Re: MAX() function over character values
Comments: To: Eugene Bolotin <YBolotin@SCHOOLS.NYC.GOV>

Yevgeniy,

Use the MAX/MIN operators instead:

s_max = s1 max s2 ;
s_min = s1 min s2 ;

You can also use them with numeric operands if you need to include missing
values in the comparison. The descriptive statistics functions, including
MIN/MAX ignore nulls - a side effect used to turn them into zeros via
expressions like sum(val,0). And, to boot, the operators execute faster than
the respective functions.

Kind regards
------------
Paul Dorfman
Jax, FL
------------

On Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:28:54 -0500, Bolotin Yevgeniy
<YBolotin@SCHOOLS.NYC.GOV> wrote:

>The MAX function only works on numbers in SAS 9.2
>http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/lrdict/64316/HTML/default/vi
>ewer.htm#a000245913.htm
>
>However, it works on both numbers and characters in SAS/IML 9.2
>http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/imlug/59656/HTML/default/lan
>gref_sect169.htm
>
>
>Is there a character-capable MAX function in SAS Base that I can use?
>
>(surprisingly enough, PROC SQL seems to have the same limitation)
>   ERROR: Function MAX requires a numeric expression as argument 1.
>
>
>
>
>data _z;
>length z $1.;
>z = max('2','3','a');
>run;
>
>
>NOTE: Character values have been converted to numeric values at the
>places given by:
>      (Line):(Column).
>      3053:9    3053:13   3053:17
>NOTE: Numeric values have been converted to character values at the
>places given by:
>      (Line):(Column).
>      3053:5
>NOTE: Invalid numeric data, 'a' , at line 3053 column 17.
>z=3 _ERROR_=1 _N_=1
>
>
>Thanks
>
>SAS 9.2
>WinXP SP3