Interpreting Error Messages (1)

Editing and Debugging SAS Programs

Interpreting Error Messages

Error Types

So far, the programs you've submitted in this lesson have been error-free, but programming errors do occur. SAS can detect five types of errors:

syntax
semantic
execution-time
data
macro related.

The table below describes each of these error types. This lesson focuses on identifying and correcting syntax errors.

Error Type Description

syntax Syntax errors are detected during compile time and occur when program statements do not conform to the rules of the SAS language.

semantic Semantic errors are detected during compile time and occur when the form of the elements in a SAS statement is correct, but the elements are not valid for that usage.

execution-time Execution-time errors are errors that occur when the SAS System executes the program on data values.

data Data errors are detected during execution time and occur when some data values are not appropriate for the SAS statements you have specified in the program.

macro related Macro related errors occur when there are errors in using the macro facility itself or when there are errors in the SAS code produced by the macro facility.

Error Type	Description
syntax	Syntax errors are detected during compile time and occur when program statements do not conform to the rules of the SAS language.
semantic	Semantic errors are detected during compile time and occur when the form of the elements in a SAS statement is correct, but the elements are not valid for that usage.
execution-time	Execution-time errors are errors that occur when the SAS System executes the program on data values.
data	Data errors are detected during execution time and occur when some data values are not appropriate for the SAS statements you have specified in the program.
macro related	Macro related errors occur when there are errors in using the macro facility itself or when there are errors in the SAS code produced by the macro facility.