When creating an index with the UNIQUE attribute, SAS may begin to loop if all the following conditions are true:

1. there are duplicate values in the column(s) being indexed
2. there are available pages on the index file (typically from a previous index delete operation), and
3. the duplicate value is encountered after some index pages have been created in memory, but not yet written to disk.

To prevent the problem, use PROC SORT with the NODUPKEY option prior to index creation to remove duplicate values from the key variable(s).

This problem is corrected in SAS 9.2.

Select the Hot Fix tab in this note to access the hot fix for this issue.

Operating System and Release Information

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

A fix for SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3) with Asian Language Support (DBCS) for this issue is available at :