Doing More with Report Writing

Doing More with Tabular Reports

The Tabular Report item on the Report Writing menu enables you to create tables in one of six styles. A tabular report presents descriptive statistics in tabular format. The value in each table cell is calculated from the columns and statistics that define the pages, rows, and columns of the table. The statistic associated with each cell is calculated on values from all rows in that category.

In the "Report Writing" chapter of Getting Started with SAS/ASSIST, you learned to create a tabular report using the Simple Group 1 style. This chapter describes the different tabular report styles and shows sample output for each style. The techniques for selecting columns and statistics and for generating output are the same for all styles. Additionally, this chapter provides information on the Summarize option and Additional Options.

Additional Information

For additional information on creating tabular reports, refer to the "Report Writing" chapter in Getting Started with SAS/ASSIST and to the SAS Guide to TABULATE Processing.

Defining Terms

Before creating a tabular report, there is some terminology you should understand.

An analysis column is a numeric column whose values are used to calculate statistics.

A classification column is any column, numeric or character, that you want to use to classify your data into groups or categories of information. Classification columns can have character, integer, or even decimal values, but the number of unique values should be limited. Frequently, columns in a table have discrete values, but there are so many different values that any breakdown by these values is meaningless. You can reduce the number of classes by formatting ranges of values. See Creating a Format for information on formatting ranges of values.

Statistics Style

The Statistics style of tabular report is the simplest. This style allows you to display statistics of your choice on any or all of the numeric columns in your table. The following display shows a table containing the MEAN, MIN, and MAX statistics for all the numeric variables in the HOUSES table.

Statistics Report Output

[Statistics Report Output]

Simple Group 1 Style

The Simple Group 1 style of tabular report is similar to the Statistics style, except that the calculated statistics are broken down by one or more classification variables. The analysis variables are arranged across the tabular report; each one is subdivided into the selected statistics. The classification variables are arranged down the tabular report, with one row of the tabular report for each value of the classification variable. The following display shows a Simple Group 1 style of tabular report on the HOUSES table:

Simple Group 1 Report Output

[Simple Group 1 Report Output]

Simple Group 2 Style

The Simple Group 2 style of tabular report is similar to the Simple Group 1 style, except that you select statistics that go across the tabular report and are subdivided by the analysis columns. With this style of report, it is easier to compare the same statistic for different analysis columns.

Simple Group 2 Report Output

[Simple Group 2 Report Output]

2-D Group Style

The 2-D Group style of tabular report enables you to create frequency tables, such as the one shown in the following display:

2-D Group Report Output

[2-D Group Report Output]

Multiple Group Style

The Multiple Group style of tabular report is similar to the Simple Group 1 style, except that you specify an additional classification column to be arranged across the tabular report:

Multiple Group Report Output

[Multiple Group Report Output]

Advanced Style

The Advanced style of tabular report is the most flexible. You can create any of the other report styles with the Advanced style. You build your tabular report with up to five across levels and five down levels; each level can contain one or more classification columns, analysis columns, or statistics.

Advanced Report Output

[Advanced Report Output]

When you select Across items or Down items in the Advanced window, the Across Items or Down Items window opens, enabling you to select items for the different levels. Selecting a Level button opens the Define Level window, which allows you to choose the type of item (classification column, analysis column, or statistic). The types available for a given level depend on how other levels have been defined:

You cannot have two levels of analysis columns, one under the other.
You cannot have two levels of statistics, one under the other.

If you select Drop level in the Define Level window for a previously defined level, the definition for that level is deleted, and lower levels are moved up.

Summarize Option

You can add a summary to the report for all report styles except the Statistics style. A summary provides statistics calculated for all members of each classification column, as well as statistics for the table as a whole, as in the following display:

Summarized Report Output

[Summarized Report Output]

To add a summary to a report:

Select Summary. The Summarize window opens.

Summarize Window
Select Summarize.
If desired, select Specify label to label the row with the summarized statistics. The Label Summary window appears.

Label Summary Window
Type a label and select OK. If you do not specify a label, the default label "Total" is used.
Select OK to exit the Summarize window.

Additional Options

Each report style has an Additional Options button, enabling you to further customize your report. The number of options that are available vary from style to style. The following is a description of all the possible options:

Format columns: Use this option to assign formats to the tabular report columns.
Data order: Use this option to specify the order in which the classification column values are displayed.
Row title space: Use this option to specify the width of the column containing the row titles. This number includes the vertical lines on the left and right.
Label statistics: Use this option to specify an alternative label for each statistic.
Include missing values: Use this option to include missing values as a member of the classification column(s). If this option is set to NO, only nonmissing values are used as classification members.
Missing value text: If Include missing values is set to YES, use this option to specify text to use to identify the missing-value classification member.
Label columns: Use this option to assign alternative labels to the classification and analysis columns.
Default format: Use this option to specify a default format for all values in the table. This format is overridden on a per-column basis by any formats specified in Format columns.
Form characters: Use this option to specify alternative symbols to use as vertical and horizontal lines, corners, etc.
Use separator lines: Use this option to specify whether to display lines between the rows of the tabular report.
Maximum depth: Use this option to specify the maximum number of levels for across or down items.

Top of Page