Examples from
SAS Functions by
Example
Ron Cody
Herman Lo
Technical Analyst, RBC Capital
Agenda
Book Structure
Examples from the Book
Character Functions (CATS, CATX)
Date and Time Functions (INTCK, INTNX)
Descriptive Stats (IQR, SMALLEST/LARGEST)
Special Functions (INPUT, PUT)
Macro Functions (CALL SYMPUT, CALL
SYMPUTX)
The Verdict
Book Structure
TOC List of Chapters
List of Programs
At the beginning of each chapter
List of Functions
Inside each chapter
For each function
Purpose
Syntax
Examples/Anticipated Outputs
A Sample Program
At the back
List of Functions
Index (Alphabetical)
Character Functions
CATS(string-1, string-2 )
CATX(string-1, string-2 )
Joins strings, stripping both leading and trailing
blanks
Joins strings, stripping both leading and trailing
blanks, and add a space in between them
Example
A = Star
B = Wars
CATS(A, B) = StarWars
CATX(A, B) = Star Wars
(See Pg. 57-58)
Date and Time Functions
INTCK(interval<Multiple><.shift>,
date1,date2)
Returns number of Intervals between
date1 and date2
Date1 and Date2 can be date, time, datetime
values
date: 01JUN2000d
time: 9:15:09T
datetime:01JUN2000:9:15:09DT
Interval = The unit of the interval
Interval(date) = DAY, WEEK, WEEKDAY,
Interval(time) = SECOND, MINUTE, HOUR
Interval(datetime) = DTDAY, DTWEEK, DTWEEKDAY,
Date and Time Functions
INTCK(interval<Multiple><.shift>,
date1,date2)
Multiple (optional) = Multiple of interval unit
DAY50 = 50-DAY intervals
Shift (optional) =starting point of interval
Meaning of Shift depends on the Interval
Interval=YEAR,SEMIYEAR,QTR,MONTH Shift = MONTH
YEAR4.11 = 4-YEAR intervals starting on November
Interval=SEMIMONTH,HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND Shift=Interval
but only Multi-intervals can be shifted (Multiple must be
specified)
HOUR8.6=8-HOUR intervals starting at 6AM (6AM,2PM,10PM)
See Pg. 186
Date and Time Functions
INTCK(interval<Multiple><.shift>,
date1,date2)
Examples
INTCK(YEAR.7,05MAY2002d, 15JUL2002d)=1
INTCK(WEEK,01JAN1960d, 04JAN1960d)=1
01JAN1960 is a Sunday, so the week counter is triggered
because default WEEK starting point is Sunday.
CAREFUL:
Results may surprise you (off-by-one problems). Watch where
the starting point is.
Date and Time Functions
INTNX(interval,startdate,increment<,alignment>)
Interval = same as INTCK
Start-date = starting date
increment = # of intervals between start date and output
date
alignment (optional) = BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END of
Interval
default is BEGINNING
Example
INTNX(WEEK,01JAN1960d,1,MIDDLE)=06JAN,1960d
Descriptive Stats
IQR(<of> numeric-values)
Computes the interquartile range (25th
percentile and 75th percentile) in a list
of values
Use of to define a list of values
Examples
X1=1,X2=2,X3=3,X4=.
IQR(of X1-X4)=2
IQR(X1,X2,X3,X4)=2
Descriptive Stats
SMALLEST/LARGEST(N,<of> numeric-values)
Finds the Nth smallest or largest number in the list of
values
Returns missing value and writes an error in log if N is
larger than number of values
Returns missing value and does not write an error in
log if N is larger than the number of missing values
Examples
X1=1,X2=2,X3=3,X4=.,X5=.
SMALLEST(3,X2,X3,X4)=.
LARGEST(1,X1,X2,X3,X4)=3
Special Functions
INPUT(value, informat)
PUT(value, format)
Performs character-to-numeric conversion.
Value is a character variable
Informat is a SAS informat, defines the input
format of Value
Performs numeric-to-character conversion.
Value is a character variable
format is a SAS format, defines the output
format
Program Example from Pg. 302
Special Functions
***Primary functions: PUT, INPUT;
PROC FORMAT;
VALUE ITEM
1=APPLE
2=PEAR
3=GRAPE
OTHER=UNKNOWN;
VALUE $COST
A C = 44.45
D = 125.
OTHER = ;
RUN;
DATA TABLE;
INPUT ITEM_NO CODE $ @@;
ITEM_NAME = PUT(ITEM_NO,
PUT(ITEM_NO, ITEM.);
AMOUNT = INPUT(PUT(CODE,
INPUT(PUT(CODE, $COST.), 9.);
DATALINES;
1 B2 D 3 X 4 C
;
PROC PRINT DATA=TABLE NOOBS;
TITLE Listing of Data Set TABLE;
RUN;
Listing of Data Set TABLE
ITEM_NO
CODE
ITEM_
NAME
AMOUNT
APPLE
44.45
PEAR
125.00
GRAPE
UNKNOWN
44.45
Macro Functions
CALL SYMPUT(macro-var, character-value)
CALL SYMPUTX(macro-var, character-value)
Assigns a value to a macro variable during
execution of DATA step
CALL SYMPUTX: Blanks are not removed from
value before assignment to macro variable
CALL SYMPUTX: Leading & trailing blanks are
removed from value before assignment to macro
variable
Equivalent to %let statement in macro language
Macro Functions
Example
DATA TEST;
INPUT STRING $CHAR10. ;
CALL SYMPUT(StringWithBlanks,STRING);
CALL SYMPUTX(StringWithoutBlanks,STRING);
DATALINES;
ABC
;
DATA _NULL_;
WITHBLANKS = ---- || &StringWithBlanks || ----;
WITHOUTBLANKS = ---- || &StringWithoutBlanks ||
----;
PUT Value of StringWithBlanks is WITHBLANKS;
PUT Value of StringWithBlanks is WITHOUTBLANKS;
RUN;
SAS LOG
Value of WITHBLANKS is ---ABC
Value of WITHOUTBLANKS is ----ABC----
----
File I/O Functions
File I/O functions are used to obtain information about SAS data
sets
dsid = OPEN(data-set-name<,mode>)
Opens a SAS data set with the name data-set-name and
return a data set ID dsid
A Data set ID is necessary for File I/O Functions
If data set cannot be opened, OPEN returns a 0
EXIST(dsid)
Returns 1 if Data set exists and a 0 otherwise
CLOSE(dsid)
Closes SAS data set after it has been opened by the OPEN
function
File I/O Functions
ATTRC(dsid,attribute)
Returns the character value of a character type attribute
i.e. ATTRC(DSID, sortedby) = name of the BY variable.
Empty if not sorted.
ATTRN(dsid,attribute)
Returns the numeric value of a character type attribute
File I/O Functions
%MACRO NOBS(DSN);
IF EXIST(&DSN) THEN DO;
DSID = OPEN(&DSN);
NOBS=ATTRN(DSID,ANY);
NOBS=ATTRN(DSID,NLOBS);
NOBS=ATTRN(DSID,NVARS);
END;
ELSE NOBS=.;
RC = CLOSE(DSID);
%MEND NOBS;
DATA _NULL_;
%NOBS(TABLE);
PUT ANY=;
PUT NLOBS=;
PUT NVARS=;
RUN;
Listing of Data Set TABLE
ITEM_NO
CODE
ITEM_
NAME
AMOUNT
APPLE
44.45
PEAR
125.00
GRAPE
UNKNOWN
44.45
SAS LOG
ANY=1
(indicates that dataset has both observations and variab
NLOBS=4 (dataset has 4 logical observations)
NVARS=4 (dataset has 4 variables)
The Verdict
The book is an excellent Handbook
on SAS Functions
New SAS9.1 Functions are
demonstrated
What I wish it has:
An associated web resource/software
help manual for ease of lookup
