Introduction to Submitting SAS Statements

In 2002, the IML Workshop application (now known as SAS/IML Studio) introduced a mechanism for submitting SAS statements from programs written in the IMLPlus language. As of SAS/IML 9.22, this feature is also available in PROC IML. This chapter shows you how to submit SAS statements from PROC IML by using the SUBMIT and ENDSUBMIT statements. By using these statements, SAS/IML programmers can call any SAS procedure without losing the state of their PROC IML session.

The statements between the SUBMIT and the ENDSUBMIT statements are referred to as a SUBMIT block. The SUBMIT block is processed by the SAS language processor. You can use the SUBMIT statement to call DATA steps, macros, and SAS procedures.

This chapter covers the following topics:

• calling a SAS procedure from PROC IML

• passing parameters into the SUBMIT block

• creating ODS graphics in a SUBMIT block

• handling errors in the SUBMIT block

• differences between the SUBMIT statement in PROC IML and the IMLPlus statement of the same name as it is implemented in SAS/IML Studio