Order of precedence

The below merge is more like a set statement. But here there is a possibility of the same store occurring in both new_stores and mature_stores table. Hence flagging with ‘if a’ and ‘if b’ could be problem, as one store could fall in both the groups. Care should be taken while making use of this logic. In the below example if a store is found in mature_stores table then it no more belongs to new store category, so the order of precedence is given to mature stores using ‘if a’.


/* Dataset for MATURE & NEW STORE*/
data all_stores;
merge mature_stores(in=a) new_stores(in=b);
by str_i;
if a then FLAG="Mature";
if b then FLAG="New";
run;