Using
the DATA step is the primary method for creating a SAS data set with
Base SAS software. A DATA step is a group of SAS language statements
that begin with a DATA statement. The group of language statements
contains other programming statements that manipulate existing SAS
data sets or create SAS data sets from raw data files.
You can use the DATA
step for the following tasks:
-
creating SAS data sets (SAS data
files or SAS views)
-
creating SAS data sets from input
files that contain raw data (external files)
-
creating new SAS data sets from
existing ones by subsetting, merging, modifying, and updating existing
SAS data sets
-
analyzing, manipulating, or presenting
your data
-
computing the values for new variables
-
report writing, or writing files
to disk or tape
-
-
Note: A DATA step creates a SAS
data set. This data set can be a SAS data file or a SAS view. A SAS
data file stores data values while a SAS view stores instructions
for retrieving and processing data. When you can use a SAS view as
a SAS data file, as is true in most cases, this documentation uses
the broader term SAS data set.