How to eliminate data error notes from the SAS log

A student in a SAS class recently asked if there were a way to eliminate data error notes from the SAS log and, instead, write them to a separate file. Of course there's a way!

Here's a simple datastep. Notice the missing dollar sign to indicate the variable GENDER (M, F) is a character variable.

data class;
	infile 'c:\temp\class.csv' dsd;
	input name $ gender age;
run;

We've all seen those ugly data error notes in the SAS log!

562  data class;
563     infile 'c:\temp\class.csv' dsd;
564     input name $ gender age;
565  run;
 
NOTE: The infile 'c:\temp\class.csv' is:
      Filename=c:\temp\class.csv,
      RECFM=V,LRECL=32767,File Size (bytes)=236,
      Last Modified=03Dec2014:12:46:20,
      Create Time=03Dec2014:12:46:20
 
NOTE: Invalid data for gender in line 1 8-8.
RULE:     ----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5         
1         Alfred,M,14 11
name=Alfred gender=. age=14 _ERROR_=1 _N_=1
NOTE: Invalid data for gender in line 2 7-7.
2         Alice,F,13 10
name=Alice gender=. age=13 _ERROR_=1 _N_=2
NOTE: Invalid data for gender in line 3 9-9.
3         Barbara,F,13 12
name=Barbara gender=. age=13 _ERROR_=1 _N_=3
NOTE: Invalid data for gender in line 4 7-7.
4         Carol,F,14 10
name=Carol gender=. age=14 _ERROR_=1 _N_=4
NOTE: Invalid data for gender in line 5 7-7.
5         Henry,M,14 10
name=Henry gender=. age=14 _ERROR_=1 _N_=5
NOTE: Invalid data for gender in line 6 7-7.
6         James,M,12 10
name=James gender=. age=12 _ERROR_=1 _N_=6
NOTE: Invalid data for gender in line 7 6-6.
7         Jane,F,12 9
name=Jane gender=. age=12 _ERROR_=1 _N_=7
...
NOTE: 19 records were read from the infile 'c:\temp\class.csv'.
      The minimum record length was 9.
      The maximum record length was 12.
NOTE: The data set WORK.CLASS has 19 observations and 3 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.04 seconds
      cpu time            0.04 seconds

Suppressing the data error notes in the SAS log is easy!

options errors=0;

But the above approach only masks the bad news. That is why the student wanted to write these notes to a separate file. Here's how!

data class;
	infile 'c:\temp\class.csv' dsd;
	input name $ gender age;
	if _error_=1 then do;
		file 'c:\temp\MyInvalidDataNotes.txt';
		put 'NOTE: Invalid data in line ' _N_;
		put _infile_;
		put _all_;
		put;
	end;
run;