See this note which describes the most common reason for this error message. The following describes a specific problem that was fixed in SAS^® 9.2. For general information on setting reference levels, see this note.

If, for two or more CLASS variables, you specify the REF= variable option in the CLASS statement to identify particular reference levels for the variables, then the following error will appear:

ERROR: Invalid reference value for xxxxxxx.

where xxxxxxx is the name of a CLASS variable. For example, this statement will generate the error:

class a(ref='1') b(ref='1');

To avoid the problem, remove the REF= options, or use REF=FIRST or LAST instead of specifying particular values. If you recode the variables or assign formats so that the intended reference levels have the highest sorted values, then you can remove the REF= options and get the desired coding.

A fix for SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3) for this issue is available at: http://www.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/e9_sbcs_prod_list.html#013510

Operating System and Release Information

A fix for SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3) for this issue is available at: