Understanding How to Select BY Variables
The master data set and the
transaction data set must be sorted by the same variable or variables
that you specify in the BY statement. Select a variable that meets
these criteria:
-
The value of the variable is unique for each observation in the master data set. If you use more than one BY variable, no two observations in the master data set should have the same values for all BY variables.
-
The variable or variables never need to be updated.
Some examples of variables
that you can use in the BY statement include employee or student identification
numbers, stock numbers, and the names of objects in an inventory.
If you are updating a data set, you probably do not want duplicate values of BY ...
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