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Problem Note 1598: ERROR: OPTION CTRYTHOUSANDSEPARATOR REQUIRES AN ARGUMENT

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Digital Grouping Symbol under Regional Settings might cause problems
when installing or starting SAS. When this happens the following
error(s) might be seen:

   ERROR:  OPTION CTRYTHOUSANDSEPARATOR REQUIRES AN ARGUMENT

   ERROR:  OPTION CTRYDECIMALSEPARATOR REQUIRES AN ARGUMENT

When you click OK, this will allow the install to complete with no
apparent problems.  However, when SAS is launched, the error(s) above
might will appear and SAS will not start.

The error is caused by an invalid value for the digit grouping symbol
setting on the Number tab of the Regional Settings Properties window
under the Control Panel.

Invalid values include: blanks / ; - and =.  To circumvent, select
another value for the digit grouping symbol.

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#001598

For customers running SAS with Asian Language Support (DBCS), this
fix should be downloaded from:

http://www.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/e9_dbcs_prod_list.html#001598

For SAS 8.2 try the following:

   1. Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Regional Settings ->
      Number and change the Digit Grouping Symbol to " ".
   2. Edit the SAS configuration file (sasv8.cfg) and add:

      -CTRYTHOUSANDSEPARATOR " "

      The default location for the sasv8.cfg file is
      C:\Program Files\SAS Institute\SAS\V8.


Operating System and Release Information

Product FamilyProductSystemSAS Release
ReportedFixed*
SAS SystemBase SASMicrosoft Windows XP Professional9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional9.1 TS1M09.1 TS1M3 SP1
* For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.