When reading an external file into a SAS data set, the INFILE statement defines the file to be read as well as various options about how to read the file. The DSD option specifies that when data values are enclosed in quotation marks, delimiters within the value are treated as character data. The DSD option changes how SAS treats delimiters when you use LIST input and sets the default delimiter to a comma. When you specify DSD, SAS treats two consecutive delimiters as a missing value and removes quotation marks from character values. The DLMSTR option specifies a character string as an alternate delimiter (other than a blank) to be used for LIST input.

The DSD and DLMSTR options in the INFILE statement are not correctly handling consecutive delimiters.

When you use the DSD and DLMSTR= options in the INFILE statement, you would expect consecutive delimiters to create a missing value. Currently, this is not behaving as it should. If your variables are character, you will get a missing value, but the value following will contain a portion of the delimiter. If your variables are numeric, the consecutive delimiters are ignored.

Refer to SAS Note 33385, "DLMSTR= option used to specify multi-character string as a delimiter", for more information about handling multiple delimiters when reading a file.

Operating System and Release Information

Product Family	Product	System	SAS Release
			Reported	Fixed*
SAS System	Base SAS	64-bit Enabled HP-UX	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		64-bit Enabled AIX	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Windows Vista	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Windows Vista for x64	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows XP Professional	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for x64	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for x64	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft® Windows® for x64	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise 64-bit Edition	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter 64-bit Edition	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Microsoft® Windows® for 64-Bit Itanium-based Systems	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		z/OS	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		64-bit Enabled Solaris	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		HP-UX IPF	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Linux	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Linux for x64	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		OpenVMS on HP Integrity	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0
		Solaris for x64	9.2 TS2M0	9.3 TS1M0

* 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.

Here is code that demonstrates the problem.

---

data one;
infile cards dlmstr='||' dsd;
  input a $ b $  c $ ;
  /* input a b c; */
cards;
123||||4
;
run;
proc print; 
run;

If your variables are numeric, your output will be: 

 Obs     a     b    c

  1     123    .    .

If your varialbes are character, your output will be: 


 Obs     a     b    c

  1     123         |4

   

Type:	Problem Note
Priority:	medium
Topic:	SAS Reference ==> DATA Step Common Programming Tasks ==> Reading and Writing External Data

Date Modified:	2011-10-05 12:50:16
Date Created:	2009-12-15 10:36:03