What is SAS?

The SAS BI Software

The SAS BI System is an integrated suite of software for enterprise-wide information delivery... Applications of the SAS
System include executive information systems; data entry, retrieval, and management; report writing and graphics;
statistical and mathematical analysis; business planning, forecasting, and decision support; operations research and
project management; statistical quality improvement; computer performance evaluation; and applications development.

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-is-sas.html

Introduction to SAS

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What is SAS system?

The SAS System known well as Statistical Analysis System, is one of the most widely used, flexible data processing,
reporting and analyses tools.

SAS is a set of solutions for enterprise-wide business users as well as a powerful fourth-generation programming
language for performing tasks or analyses in a variety of realms such as these: -

Analytic Intelligence
General
Data Mining and Statistical Analysis
Forecasting & Econometrics
Operations Research

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/introduction-to-sas.html

SAS Books Recommended for industry application

These books coupled with SUGI Papers will give you the impetus/basics to learn and explore more on the Internet.

1. Professional SAS Programmer's Pocket Reference - Rick Aster

This book would be a must for any SAS Professional I guess.....It's a quick handy book for Syntax and options......

2. SAS Certification Prep Guide: Base Programming - SAS Institute

This book is a Prep Guide for BaseSAS....I would suggest you to read the whole book before you attempt the exam in
addition to the SAS Online tutor, as it covers some uncovered syllabus on the latter....

3. Cody's Data Cleaning Techniques Using SAS Software - Ron Cody

This book is an excellent source of examples of SAS in real-world applications....

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-books-recommended-for-industry.html

Base SAS tutorials (Slides) for the Beginners !!! ...

Here are some links to learning Base SAS...

SAS Slides 1 : Introduction to SAS

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/base-sas-tutorials-slides-for-beginners.html
Advanced SAS tutorials (Slides) for Beginners !!!

Here are some links to learning Advanced SAS Programming...

SAS Macros - to learn Macro Programming in SAS.

SAS Slides 12 : Macros

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/advanced-sas-tutorials-slides-for.html

Quick links to SAS Statements in SAS Documentation...

Here are some links to SAS statements and its options in the SAS Documentation...

SAS Options
SAS Statements
SAS Procedures
SAS Functions
SAS Simple STATs

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/quick-links-to-sas-statements-in-sas.html

Base SAS tutorials (Slides) for the Beginners !!! ...

SAS Slides 7 : Match Merging with Datastep

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/base-sas-tutorials-slides-for-beginners_13.html

SAS macro to Create / Remove a PC Directory...

Here's a SAS macro to Create and Remove a PC Directory... Often we ignore Notes and warning in the SAS log when
we try to create/remove a directory that does/doesn't exist...This macro first checks for the existence of the directory and
then create/delete it or else put a message to the SAS log...try it out :-)

/* Macro to Create a directory */

%macro CheckandCreateDir(dir);
options noxwait;
%local rc fileref ;
%let rc = %sysfunc(filename(fileref,&dir)) ;
%if %sysfunc(fexist(&fileref)) %then
%put The directory "&dir" already exists ;
%else
%do ;
%sysexec mkdir "&dir" ;
%if &sysrc eq 0 %then %put The directory &dir has been created. ;

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-macro-to-remove-pc-directory.html

Ways to Count the Number of Obs in a dataset and pass it into a macro variable...

Well...there are many ways of getting the observation count into a macro variable...but there a few pros and cons in those
methods...

1. using sql with count(*)..

eg.
proc sql;
select count(*) into :macvar
from dsn;
quit;

pros: simple to understand and develop

cons: you need to read the dataset in its entirety which requires processing power here...

2. datastep
eg.
data new;
set old nobs=num;
call symputx('macvar',num);
run;

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/ways-to-count-number-of-obs-in-dataset.html

SAS macro to split dataset by the number of Observations specified

Suppose there was a large dataset....This SAS macro program splits the dataset by the number of observations
mentioned...

macro name
%split(DatasetName, No ofobservation to split by)

/* creating a dataset with 100000 observations*/

data dsn;
do i=1 to 100000;
output;
end;
run;

%macro split(dsn,splitby);
data _null_;
set &dsn nobs=num;

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-macro-to-split-dataset-by-number-of.html

 SAS Programming Efficiencies

The purpose of this document is to provide tips for improving the efficiency of your SAS programs. It suggests coding
techniques, provides guidelines for their use, and compares examples of acceptable and improved ways to accomplish
the same task. Most of the tips are limited to DATA step applications.

Efficiency

For the purpose of this discussion, efficiency will be defined simply as obtaining more results from fewer computer
resources. When you submit a SAS program, the computer must:
• load the required software into memory
• compile the program

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-programming-efficiencies.html

SAS macro to reorder dataset variables in alphabetic order...

How do you reorder variables in a dataset...I get this many a times....

Here's a macro for you to achieve it...For example I've used a dataset sashelp.flags and created some more variables
with variety of variables with names upper / lower cases and _'s to demonstrate the reorder macro....

Please try this macro for yourself and let me know your suggestions....

/* Example dataset with variety of variable names */

data flags;
set sashelp.flags;
a=2;
b=4;

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-macro-to-reorder-dataset-variables.html

SAS Interview Questions and Answers found on the Internet...

Here are some more links for SAS Interview Questions and Answers found on the Internet...

http://www.sconsig.com/tipscons/list_sas_tech_questions.htm
http://www.globalstatements.com/sas/jobs/technicalinterview.html
http://studysas.blogspot.com

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-interview-questions-and-answers.html

SAS Interview Questions and Answers(1)

What SAS statements would you code to read an external raw data file to a DATA step?

We use SAS statements –

FILENAME – to specify the location of the file
INFILE - Identifies an external file to read with an INPUT statement
INPUT – to specify the variables that the data is identified with.

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-interview-questions.html

 SAS Interview Questions and Answers(2)

If you're not wanting any SAS output from a data step, how would you code the data statement to prevent SAS
from producing a set?

Data _null_;

_NULL_ - specifies that SAS does not create a data set when it executes the DATA step.

Data _null_ is majorly used in

○ creating quick macro variables with call symput routine

eg.
Data _null_;
Set somedata;
Call symput(‘macvar’,dsnvariable);
Run;
○ Creating a Custom Report
Eg.

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-interview-questions-and-answers2.html

Advanced Macro Topics

A document that discusses Advanced Macro topics

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/advanced-macro-topics.html
SAS Instructor's Programming Tip - Combining Data ...

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-instructors-programming-tip.html

Opening SAS Data Files - A video tutorial

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/opening-sas-data-files-video-tutorial.html

SAS Add-in to Microsoft Office

SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office enables business users to trans-parently leverage the power of SAS data access,
reporting and analytics directly from Microsoft Office via integrated menus and toolbars.

SAS Add-in to Microsoft Office Video Tutorial 1

SAS Add-in to Microsoft Office Video Tutorial 2

A document that discusses SAS Add-in to Microsoft Office

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-add-in-to-microsoft-office.html

SAS Certification Preparation Guide for SAS 9

SAS Certification Preparation Guide

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-certification-preparation-guide-for.html

SAS Publishing - SAS 9.1 Programming I & II Course...
Sas Publishing - Sas 9.1 Programming I Essentials Course Notes (2005)
Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-publishing-sas-91-programming-i.html

Use SAS function Propcase() to streamline Google Contacts

You might think I am crazy...but I have been using this macro for a long time to fix some contacts in my Google
Contacts...I get a little irritated when I can't find a particular person by email...so I wrote this macro...
This macro takes for Input a .csv file that is exported from Google Contacts and outputs a file that is ready to be imported
to Google Contacts....often I wanted to have Names in the proper case...

Try it yourself and let me know if it needs any tweaks...

Propcase in SAS Documentation.

%macro organizeGoogleContacts(infile,outfile);
/*Import your contacts into SAS */
data googlegroups;
infile "&infile" dlm=',' dsd lrecl=32767 firstobs=2;

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/use-sas-function-propcase-to-streamline.html

SAS Macro to Create a delimited text file from a SAS dataset...

A document that discusses SAS Macro to Create a delimited text file from a SAS data set..

options mprint;

data one;
input id name :$20. amount ;
date=today();
format amount dollar10.2
date mmddyy10.;
label id="Customer ID Number";
datalines;
1 Grant 57.23
2 Michael 45.68
3 Tammy 53.21
;

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-macro-to-create-delimited-text-file.html

How can I create a CSV file with ODS?

A document that discusses How can I create a CSV file with ODS?

/* example 1: Release 8.1 */

ods xml body='c:\test\test.csv' type=csv;
proc print data=sashelp.class;
run;
ods xml close;

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-can-i-create-csv-file-with-ods.html

Use a Microsoft Excel file to create a user-defined format

A document that discusses Use a Microsoft Excel file to create a user-defined format

/*Create an Excel spreadsheet for the example. */

filename test 'c:\testfmt.csv';

proc export data=sashelp.class outfile=test
dbms=csv replace;
run;

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/use-microsoft-excel-file-to-create-user.html

SAS Macro to split a dataset into multiple datasets vertically with a common primary key

This macro splits a dataset to multiple datasets vertically with a common primary key. For eg, a dataset has 400 fields and
20,000 records. If we can split the dataset into two, with 200 fields and 20,000 records in each dataset with a common
field like loan number as primary key would be helpful to load the details for analysis.

/**
To be called like this...
%splitdsnverticallykey(dsn,varperdsn,keyvars=);
eg. %splitdsnverticallykey(sashelp.vtable,4,keyvars=memname libname);

Where -----------

dsn - libname.datasetname to be split

varperdsn - How many vars per dsn excluding the key variables
keyvars - specify the primary key variables
*/
Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-macro-to-split-dataset-into.html
SAS Certification Base SAS Practice Exam

SAS BASE Programming Exam

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-certification-base-sas-practice.html

SAS Certification Advanced SAS Practice Exam

Sample Advanced SAS Exam

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-certification-advanced-sas-practice.html
Other interesting SAS Blogs for references...

Here are some other interesting SAS Blogs for references...

http://www.sastips.com/

http://www.afhood.com/blog/

http://www.thejuliagroup.com/blog/

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/other-interesting-sas-blogs-for.html

SAS Macro that reads the filenames available at a particular directory on any FTP server (i.e. Windows Network
Drive/Unix/Mainframe)

Here's a macro that reads the filenames available at a particular directory on any FTP server (i.e. Windows Network
Drive/Unix/Mainframe)...

For Windows network drives we use the Filename Pipe Statement

For Mainframe and Unix we use the FileName FTP protocol statement.

For further reference please refer to Filename statements in SAS Documentation.

First we need to create 2 Excel files

ServerList.xls – 3 columns with servertype | host | sourcedir

Read more @ http://sastechies.blogspot.com/2009/11/sas-macro-that-lists-files-at.html