Example 36.4 Limiting the Time Range of Data

You can also limit the time range of the data in the SAS data set by using the RANGE= option in the LIBNAME statement or the WHERE statement in the DATA step to process the time ID variable DATE only when it falls in the range you are interested in.

All data for 1988, 1989, and 1990 are included in the SAS data set that is generated by using the RANGE=’01JAN1988’D - ’31DEC1990’D option or the WHERE DATE BETWEEN ’01JAN88’D AND ’31DEC90’D statement. The difference is that the range option uses less space in your Fame Work database. If you have a very large database and you want to use less space in your Fame Work database while you are processing the oecd1 database, you should use the RANGE= option as shown in the following statements:

options validvarname=any;

%let FAME=%sysget(FAME);
%put(&FAME);
%let FAMETEMP=%sysget(FAME_TEMP);
%put(&FAMETEMP);

libname famedir SASEFAME "%sysget(FAME_DATA)"
        convert=(freq=annual technique=constant)
        range='01jan1988'd - '31dec1990'd;

libname mydir "%sysget(FAME_TEMP)";

data mydir.a;  /* add data set to mydir */
   set famedir.oecd1;
   /* range on the libref restricts the dates *
    * read from famedir's oecd1 database      */
run;

title1 "OECD1: TECH=Constant, FREQ=Annual";
proc print data=mydir.a;
run;

Output 36.4.1 shows the results.

The following statements show how you can use the WHERE statement in the DATA step to process the time ID variable DATE only when it falls in the range you are interested in:

options validvarname=any;

%let FAME=%sysget(FAME);
%put(&FAME);
%let FAMETEMP=%sysget(FAME_TEMP);
%put(&FAMETEMP);

libname famedir SASEFAME "%sysget(FAME_DATA)"
        convert=(freq=annual technique=constant);

libname mydir "%sysget(FAME_TEMP)";

data mydir.a;  /* add data set to mydir */
   set famedir.oecd1;
   /* where only  */
   where date between '01jan88'd and '31dec90'd;
run;

title1 "OECD1: TECH=Constant, FREQ=Annual";
proc print data=mydir.a;
run;

In Output 36.4.2, you can see that the result from the WHERE statement is the same as the result in Output 36.4.1 using the RANGE= option.

See SAS Language Reference: Concepts for more information about KEEP, DROP, RENAME, and WHERE statements.