SAS Language - Structure

Structure

The SAS language basically divides data processing and analysis into two kinds of steps.

1. Data Steps - Which manipulate data input and creation or deletion of variables.

1. Procedure Steps - Which manipulate analysis and output.The short form for each procedure step is Proc

Each line of code in SAS language ends with a ";"

Data Storage Hierarchy Data is stored in this hierarchy -

1) Libraries - Which contain datasets.

Libname Good "C:/Data/";

This creates a reference path to library named Good at storage location "C:/Data/";

2) Datasets -Which contain variables and observations. Observations are rows, and variables are column headers.

Datasets can be temporary (they close when you shut down the SAS Compiling software) or they can be stored to the Operating Disk File System.

data good.dataset1; (Output Dataset Name) set dataset2; (Input Dataset Name) run; (Command after each Data step)

This stores the temporary dataset named "Dataset2" into a permanent location "C:/Data/dataset1.sas7bdat ) because it uses the Reference to good as "C:/Data/"; in previous step.