Resolving Common Problems (1)

Editing and Debugging SAS Programs

Resolving Common Problems

In addition to correcting spelling mistakes, you may need to resolve several other types of common syntax errors. These errors include

missing semicolons
leaving quotation marks unbalanced
specifying invalid options.

Another common problem is omitting a RUN statement at the end of a program. Although this is not technically an error, it can produce unexpected results. For the sake of convenience, we'll consider it together with syntax errors.

The table below lists these problems and their symptoms.

Problem Symptom

missing RUN statement "PROC (or DATA) step running" at top of active window

missing semicolon log message indicating an error on a statement that looks valid

unbalanced quotes log message indicating that a quoted string has become too long or statement is ambiguous

invalid option log message indicating that an option is invalid or not recognized

Problem	Symptom
missing RUN statement	"PROC (or DATA) step running" at top of active window
missing semicolon	log message indicating an error on a statement that looks valid
unbalanced quotes	log message indicating that a quoted string has become too long or statement is ambiguous
invalid option	log message indicating that an option is invalid or not recognized