On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 06:08:06 -0700, Franz <franz_cl2003@YAHOO.FR> wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>Here is a sample of the data file I am reading d from.
>The first 3 fields are not that important for my task.
>
>
>01020   XXYY12AAA       XX12CCCCC       (R) EMPYEMA
>01021   XXYY12BBB       XX12CCCCC       ARTHRITIS RIGHT PULS
>
>
>
>In my file the variable d I am having trouble with
>hlod the values:
>R) EMPYEMA
>ARTHRITIS RIGHT PULS)
>
>After reading the raw data file into a dataset B I
>then execute my SQL statement (see bellow) which is
>not working properly, even though those 2 values of d
>(above) are also present in A
>
>
>proc sql;
>create table Final as
>     select * FROM A
>except
>     select * FROM B
>;
>quit;
>
>
>Please help. Thanks.
>Franz.
>

I don't know.. I ran this:

205  data one two;
206      infile 'C:\temp\tabs.txt' dlm = '09'x;
207      length A B C D $100;
208      input A B C D;
209  run;

NOTE: The infile 'C:\temp\tabs.txt' is:
      File Name=C:\temp\tabs.txt,
      RECFM=V,LRECL=256

NOTE: 2 records were read from the infile 'C:\temp\tabs.txt'.
      The minimum record length was 37.
      The maximum record length was 46.
NOTE: The data set WORK.ONE has 2 observations and 4 variables.
NOTE: The data set WORK.TWO has 2 observations and 4 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds


210
211  proc sql;
212      delete from two where D = '(R) EMPYEMA';
NOTE: 1 row was deleted from WORK.TWO.

213      select D from one
214      except
215      select D from two;
216  quit;

which correctly produces this output:

D
------------
(R) EMPYEMA

It's not an upper/lower case thing?!
You've got only one variable in A and B ?
You do know "select *" compares the entire row/ all vars?
Other than that.. blanks maybe?

A