data perm.members; infile memdata; input Fname $ Lname $ / Address $ 1-20 / City & $10. State $ Zip $;

1---+----10---+----20 LEE ATHNOS   1215 RAINTREE CIRCLE  PHOENIX  AZ 85044   HEIDIE BAKER   1751 DIEHL ROAD   VIENNA  VA 22124   MYRON BARKER  131 DONERAIL DRIVE  ATLANTA  GA 30363  JOYCE BENEFIT  85 MAPLE AVENUE  MENLO PARK  CA 94025

The second member's name and address are read and assigned to corresponding variables. Then the input pointer advances to the next record, as directed by the INPUT statement, and the third member's name is read as a value for City. Still looking for a value for State and Zip, the input pointer advances to the next record and reads the values for the member's address. PROC PRINT output for this data set illustrates the problem.

Obs	Fname	Lname	Address	City	State	Zip
1	LEE	BEDWAN	1215 RAINTREE CIRCLE	PHOENIX	AZ	85044
2	HEIDIE	BAKER	1751 DIEHL ROAD	MYRON BARK	131	DONERAIL
3	ATLANTA	GA	JOYCE BENEFIT	85 MAPLE A	MENLO	PARK

So, before you write the INPUT statement, make sure the raw data file contains the same number of records for each observation.

1---+----10---+----20 1 LEE ATHNOS   21215 RAINTREE CIRCLE  3PHOENIX  AZ 85044   1HEIDIE BAKER   21751 DIEHL ROAD   3VIENNA  VA 22124   1MYRON BARKER  2131 DONERAIL DRIVE  3ATLANTA  GA 30363  1JOYCE BENEFIT  285 MAPLE AVENUE  3MENLO PARK  CA 94025

The SAS System provides tools for working with raw data files that contain missing values. See the section on handling missing values in Step-by-Step Programming with Base SAS Software or the section on the SAS Language Reference: Dictionary for more information.