To define
a simple or a multidimensional array, use the ARRAY statement. The
ARRAY statement has the following form:
ARRAY array-name {number-of-elements} <$> <length> <array-elements> <(initial-value-list)>;
where
is a SAS name that
identifies the group of variables.
is the number of variables
in the group. You must enclose this value in either parentheses (), braces {}, or brackets [].
specifies that the
elements in the array are character elements.
specifies the length
of the elements in the array that have not been previously assigned
a length.
is a list of the names
of the variables in the group. All variables that are defined in a
given array must be of the same type, either all character or all
numeric.
is a list of the initial
values for the corresponding elements in the array.
For complete information,
see the
ARRAY Statement in SAS Statements: Reference.
To reference an array that was previously defined in the same DATA
step, use an Array Reference statement. An array reference has the
following form:
where
is the name of an array
that was previously defined with an ARRAY statement in the same DATA
step.
specifies the subscript,
which can be a numeric constant, the name of a variable whose value
is the number, a SAS numeric expression, or an asterisk (*).
Note: Subscripts in SAS are 1-based
by default, and not 0-based as they are in some other programming
languages.