Why do I get an “Integer Divide by Zero” error when using a SAS data file? | SAS FAQ

Please Note! The problem described here only applies to Stat/Transfer Version 7 and earlier. This problem has been remedied in Stat/Transfer Version 8 and above.

Say that you used Stat/Transfer to make a SAS data file called c:mydatahartman.sas7bdat and you go to use it in a statistics procedure (in our example, proc reg) like below

proc reg data="c:mydatahartman";
  model y = time cond;
run;

and you get the following error in the log file.

NOTE: PROCEDURE REG used:
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds

ERROR: Integer divide by zero.
NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.
20   proc reg data="c:mydatahartman";
21     model y = time|cond;
22   run;
23

What went wrong?  Sometimes Stat/Transfer may make a SAS file that SAS has trouble reading in a statistical procedure, but there is a workaround.  You can make a copy of the data file in SAS (because SAS can read the file in a data step) and then use the copy.  For example,

data hartman;
  set "c:mydatahartman";
run;

proc reg data=hartman;
  model y = time cond;
run;

and then the log file shows that this worked,

72   data hartman;
73     set "c:mydatahartman";
74   run;

NOTE: There were 9 observations read from the data set c:mydatahartman.
NOTE: The data set WORK.HARTMAN has 9 observations and 3 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used:
      real time           0.00 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds


75
76   proc reg data=hartman;
77     model y = time cond;
78   run;

NOTE: 9 observations read.
NOTE: 1 observations have missing values.
NOTE: 8 observations used in computations.
79   quit;

NOTE: PROCEDURE REG used:
      real time           0.02 seconds
      cpu time            0.02 seconds

Now everything looks good and you can proceed to analyze the copy of your data file.

We wish to thank David Wagstaff of The Methodology Center at Pennsylvania State University for informing us of this error and providing the example data file.