Sharpening Your SAS Skills

Accessing Data

Introduction

LIST, COLUMN, FORMATTED and NAMED INPUT to Read Raw Data

Using Various Components of an INPUT Statement

Importing Data from Excel and Access Using the IMPORT Procedure

SET Statement to Read and Combine SAS Data Sets

Using the MERGE Statement to Combine SAS Data Sets

SQL Procedure to Create Data Sets

SQL Procedure to Query Multiple Tables

Introduction

Creating Temporary and Permanent SAS Data Sets

Applying Conditional Assignments and Conditional Subsets

Using DATA Step Statements to Export (or Write) Data to a File

Exporting Data to Excel and Access Using the EXPORT Procedure

Understanding How the DATA Step Is Compiled and Executed

Introduction

Modifying Variable Attributes in the Data Set

Assignment Statements and Conditionally Executed SAS Statements

Using the Retain Statement to Accumulate Variable Values Across Executions of the DATA Step

Using SAS Functions to Manipulate Character Data, Numeric Data, and SAS Date Values

Use SAS Functions to Convert Character Data to Numeric Data and Vice Versa

Processing and Executing SAS Statements Iteratively Using DO Loops

Processing Data Using SAS Arrays

Sorting Observations in a SAS Data Set

Using SAS Utility Procedures to Investigate SAS Data Libraries

Introduction

Generating Reports Using the PRINT Procedure

Generating Summary Reports Using the MEANS Procedure

Generating Summary Reports Using the FREQ Procedure

Generating Reports Using the TABULATE Procedure

Generating Reports Using the REPORT Procedure

Generating HTML, RTF, and PDF Reports Using ODS Statements

Enhancing Reports with Options and Statements

Introduction

Recognizing and Correcting Syntax and Non-Syntax Errors

Examining and Resolving Data Errors

Program Debugging Techniques

Introduction

Version 8.2 Enhancements

Version 9.1 Enhancements

Biography

Sunil Gupta

"This concise guide … is designed to help in reading, understanding, and writing better SAS programs. …"
-Zentralblatt MATH, 1092

"I would readily recommend "Sharpening Your SAS Skills" for anyone with some exposure to SAS who wants to learn the language in greater depth, particularly those who are considering taking the SAS certification exams."
-- Frank DiIorio, President of CodeCrafters


"This book is very useful for anyone with a basic knowledge of SAS wishing to advance their skills. It covers quite a lot of important ground, providing concise explanation, helpful examples, and convenient summary sections with tables for quick reference. Readers can also benefit from the comprehensive test questions following each chapter summary."
--Brian Sheehan, Senior Statistical Programmer Analyst, Quintiles, Inc.

"[The authors'] depth of knowledge in comparing similar programming approaches has taken my understanding of the SAS programming language to the next level. The Sharpening Your SAS Skills book offers a unique approach to mastering the SAS System."
- Mary Katz, Lead Systems Engineer, SAS Certified Base Programmer, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company

"This book is worth reading by all levels of SAS programmers but especially for the Beginner up to the Intermediate Levels. …It provides concise explanations, helpful examples and a nice summary section at the end of all six chapters with the added benefit of some comprehensive questions with answers provided at the end of the book. …In reading this book, I uncovered a few new features of SAS that I was unaware of and immediately thought of where I could utilize these new features and began employing them in my new code. …the 273 pages can easily be read over several days and is helpful as a refresher course to reinforce your basic knowledge of SAS. It also provides a great presentation and explanation on the PDV which I have not found in other books by SAS users. This is a book worth having in your SAS library to share with the rest of your staff who use the SAS Software."
-Charles Patridge, SCONSIG.Com

"This book, if not to be considered as a complete reference, is a very good resource for intermediate SAS programmers… .It should be a very good resource for the entry to intermediate level SAS programmers at whom it is targeted. Of course the book is well worth putting on the library shelves."
-Homer Wang, PRA International, Journal of Applied Statistics, Vol. 33, No. 6, July 2006