MISSOVER
prevents an INPUT statement from reading a new input data record if it does not find values in the current input line for all the variables in the statement. When an INPUT statement reaches the end of the current input data record, variables without any values assigned are set to missing.
Use MISSOVER if the last field(s) may be missing and you want SAS to assign missing values to
the corresponding variable.
TRUNCOVER
overrides the default behavior of the INPUT statement when an input data record is shorter than the INPUT statement expects. By default, the INPUT statement automatically reads the next input data record. TRUNCOVER enables you to read variable-length records when some records are shorter than the INPUT statement expects. Variables without any values assigned are set to missing.
Use TRUNCOVER to assign the contents of the input buffer to a variable when the field is shorter than expected.
The PAD option specifies that SAS pad variable length records with blanks. The
MISSOVER option prevents SAS from reading past the end of the line when reading free
formatted data. The DLM= option specifies the comma as the delimiter; however,
consecutive delimiters are treated as one by default. The DSD option correctly reads the
data with commas as delimiters and two consecutive commas indicating a missing value
like those in this raw data file.
You can learn about
• the PAD option in Reading Raw Data in Fixed Fields
• the MISSOVER option in Creating Multiple Observations from a Single
Record
• the DLM= option and the DSD option in Reading Free-Format Data.