Chapter 6: Missing Values

Definition of Missing Values

missing value

is a value that indicates that no data value is stored for the variable in the current observation. There are three kinds of missing values:

• numeric

• character

• special numeric.

By default, SAS prints a missing numeric value as a single period (.) and a missing character value as a blank space. See "Special Missing Values" on page 102 for more information about special numeric missing values.