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Monday, January 18, 2010

Finding the Max Value In An Array

The max() function makes it easy to find the maximum value in a SAS array.

Given an array like:


array x[*] x1-x10;

maxValue = max(of x[*]);

Pretty slick, eh? Remember, it doesn't return the position of the max element, just the max value.

This can be pretty useful if you want to find out if at least one element of an array has a value. Like if you have an array of answers and you want to find out if there is at least one answer in the array.

hasAnAnswer = max(of answers[*]);

or in logic:

if max(of answers[*])
then do;
* yes, they have answered at least one question;
end;


*NOTE: I have decided to keep this SAS programming blog SAS focused and move my Ruby on Rails writing to a Rails oriented blog. I am a guest contributor at www.HABTMProjects.com. If you were interested in following along with my RoR projects then please hop on over there and sign-up.*