SAS table row length (restriction)

Question

I am creating a SAS table in which one of the fields should contain a huge row.

Below is my table (TABLE name = MKPLOGS4):

OBS    RNID        DESCTEXT
       ---------   -----------
1       123         This is some text which is part of the record. I want this to appear
2       123         concatenated kinda like concat_group() from MYSQL but for some reason
3       123         SAS does not have such functionality. Now I am having trouble with
4       123         String concatenation.
5       124         Hi there old friend of mine, hope you are enjoying the weather
6       124         Are you sure this is not your jacket, okay then. Will give charity.
.       .           .
.       .           .
.       .           .

and I need to get a table like this (table name = MKPLOGSA):

OBS    RNID        DESCTEXT
       ---------   -----------
1       123         This is some text which is part of the record. I want this to appear concatenated kinda like concat_group() from MYSQL but for some reason SAS does not have such functionality. Now I am having trouble with String concatenation.
2       124         Hi, there old friend of mine, hope you are enjoying the weather Are you sure this is not your jacket, okay then. Will give charity.
.       .           .
.       .           .
.       .           .

So, after unsuccessful insanity with SQL, I came up with the following SAS code (note that I am very new to SAS):

DATA MKPLOGSA (DROP = DTEMP DTEXT);
  SET MKPLOGS4;
  BY RNID;

  RETAIN DTEXT;

  IF FIRST.RNID THEN
  DO;
  DTEXT = DESCTEXT;
  DELETE;
  END;
  ELSE IF LAST.RNID THEN
  DO;
    DTEMP = CATX(' ',DTEXT,DESCTEXT);
    DESCTEXT = DTEMP;
  END;
  ELSE
  DO;
    DTEMP = CATX(' ',DTEXT,DESCTEXT);
    DTEXT = DTEMP;

  DELETE;
  END;

SAS logs this warning message:

WARNING: IN A CALL TO THE CATX FUNCTION, THE BUFFER ALLOCATED 
FOR THE RESULT WAS NOT LONG ENOUGH TO CONTAIN THE CONCATENATION 
OF ALL THE ARGUMENTS. THE CORRECT RESULT WOULD CONTAIN 229 CHARACTERS, 
BUT THE ACTUAL RESULT MAY EITHER BE TRUNCATED TO 200 CHARACTER(S) OR 
BE COMPLETELY BLANK, DEPENDING ON THE CALLING ENVIRONMENT. THE 
FOLLOWING NOTE INDICATES THE LEFT-MOST ARGUMENT THAT CAUSED TRUNCATION.

The following message (for the SAS data step that I posted here):

NOTE: ARGUMENT 3 TO FUNCTION CATX AT LINE 100 COLUMN 15 IS INVALID.

Please note that in my sample data table (MKPLOGS4), each row of a row for a DESCTEXT field can contain up to 116 characters, and there is no limit on the number of rows of the description text / recordID.

The output I get has only the last line of description:

OBS   RNID   DESCTEXT
      ----   --------
1     123    String concatenation.
2     124    Are you sure this is not your jacket, okay then. Will give charity.
.     .      .
.     .      .
.     .      .

I have the following questions:

. - ? , SAS? ? , .

, , . / .

Answer 1

SAS , . , , 32767 . -, .

   /* test data -- same id repeated over multiple observations i.e., in a "long-format" */
   data one;
     input rnid desctext & :$200.;
   cards;
   123 This is some text which is part of the record. I want this to appear
   123 concatenated kinda like concat_group() from MYSQL but for some reason
   123 SAS does not have such functionality. Now I am having trouble with
   123 String concatenation.
   124 Hi there old friend of mine, hope you are enjoying the weather
   124 Are you sure this is not your jacket, okay then. Will give charity.
   ;
   run;
   /* re-shape from the long to the wide-format. assumes that data are sorted by rnid. */
   proc transpose data=one out=two;
     by rnid;
     var desctext;
   run;
   /* concatenate col1, col2, ... vars into single desctext */
   data two;
     length rnid 8 desctext $1000;
     keep rnid desctext;
     set two;
     desctext = catx(' ', of col:);
   run;

Answer 2

catx , ( ) 200 , , .

, , , - .

():

data mkplogsa (rename=dtext=desctext);

  length dtext $32767 ;

  set mkplogs4;
  by rnid;

  retain dtext;

  if first.rnid then do;
    dtext = "";
  end;

  dtext = catx(' ',dtext,desctext);

  if last.rnid then do;    
    output;
  end;

  keep dtext;

run;

, 32767 - SAS. , .

Rob

Answer 3

, , , PROC TRANSPOSE, . :

/*
  THIS TRANSPOSE STEP TAKES THE MKPLOGS4 TABLE AND
  CREATES A NEW TEMPORARY TABLE CALLED MKPLOGSA. SINCE
  THE DESCRIPTION TEXT IS STORED IN MULTIPLE LINES (OBSERVATIONS)
  IN THE ITEXT FILE, IN ORDER TO COMBINE THEM TO A SINGLE ROW,
  WE USE TRANSPOSE. HOWEVER, AFTER THIS STEP, THE DESCRIPTION TEXT
  SPREAD OVER MULTIPLE LINES ALTHOUGH ON SAME ROW (OBSERVATION)
  ARE STILL SEPARATED INTO MULTIPLE COLUMNS (ON THE SAME ROW)
  ALL PREFIXED IN THIS CASE BY 'DESCTEXT'. WE DROP THE AUTO-CREATED
  COLUMN _NAME_
*/
PROC TRANSPOSE DATA = MKPLOGS4 OUT = MKPLOGSA (DROP = _NAME_)
    PREFIX = DESCTEXT;
    VAR DESCTEXT;
    BY PLOG;
RUN;

/*
  THIS DATA STEP CREATES A NEW TABLE CALLED MKPLOGSB WHICH
  TAKES ALL THE SEPARATED DESCRIPTION TEXT COLUMNS AND
  CONCATENATES THEM INTO A SINGLE COLUMN - LONG_DESCRIPTION.
*/
DATA MKPLOGSB (DROP = DESCTEXT:);
    SET MKPLOGSA;
    /* CONCATENATED DESC. TEXT SET TO MAX. 27000 CHARS. */
    LENGTH LONG_DESCRIPTION $27000;

    LONG_DESCRIPTION = CATX(' ',OF DESCTEXT:);
RUN;