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Using MISSOVER for reading records of different length
If you are reading a file that has records of different length and has missing values at the end of a record, use the MISSOVER option.
For example, if you have a file that has 4 variables in it, but several records are missing the fourth variable:
1246 22 58 66 1299 29 62 80 1345 31 77 1388 42 51 92 1402 67
The following program will read these data correctly:
data a; infile 'test.dat' MISSOVER; input v1 1-4 v2 7-8 v3 10-10 v4 12-12; proc print; var v1 v2 v3 v4; run;
Without the MISSOVER option, SAS will go to the next line any time the fourth variable is missing:
NOTE: LOST CARD.
V1=1402 V2=. V3=67 V4=. _ERROR_=1 _N_=4
NOTE: 5 records were read from the infile 'missover.dat'.
The minimum record length was 11.
The maximum record length was 14.
NOTE: SAS went to a new line when INPUT statement reached past the end of
a line.