The TIMEID Procedure

ID Statement

ID variable < options > ;

The ID statement names a numeric variable that identifies observations in the input and output data sets. The ID variable’s values are assumed to be SAS date or datetime values. The ID statement options specify how the time ID values are spaced and aligned relative to a SAS date or datetime interval. The INTERVAL= option specifies the fundamental spacing that is used as the basis for counting intervals, offsets, and spans in the data. Specification of the ID variable in an ID statement is required.

ALIGN=alignment

specifies the alignment of the identifying SAS date or datetime that is used to represent intervals. The value of the ALIGN= option is used in the analysis of the time ID variable. The ALIGN= option accepts the following values: BEGINNING | BEG | B, MIDDLE | MID | M, ENDING | END | E, and INFER. For example, ALIGN=BEGIN specifies that the identifying date for the interval is the beginning date in the interval. If the ALIGN= option is not specified, then the default alignment is BEGIN. ALIGN=INFER specifies that the alignment of values within time intervals be inferred from the time ID values.

DUPLICATES

specifies that multiple observations in the DATA= data set can fall within the same time interval as defined by the time ID variable. When this option is omitted and multiple time ID values are encountered in a single time interval, error messages are written to the SAS log.

FORMAT=format

specifies the SAS format used for time ID values in the data sets and in printed and plotted output that is generated by PROC TIMEID. If the FORMAT= option is not specified, the format applied to the input time ID variable is used. If neither of these formats is specified, the format is inferred from the INTERVAL= option.

INTERVAL=interval

specifies the proposed time interval and shift that describe the time ID values in the input data set. See Chapter 4, Date Intervals, Formats, and Functions, for more information about the intervals that can be specified. See the section Time ID Diagnostics for more information about how the INTERVAL= option determines the nature of diagnostic information reported by the TIMEID procedure.

If no interval is specified, the procedure attempts to infer an interval from the input time ID values. See the section Inferring Time Intervals and Alignments for details about how the time interval is inferred.

NOTSORTED

specifies that the observations in the DATA= data set are not sorted by the time ID variable. When this option is omitted, error messages are generated for time ID values that are not sorted in ascending order.