The TIMEPLOT Procedure

PLOT Statement

Specifies the plots to produce.

Tip:	Each PLOT statement produces a separate plot.

PLOT plot-request(s)/option(s);

The following table summarizes the options that are available in the PLOT statement.

Summary of Options for the PLOT Statement
Task		Option
Customize the axis
	Specify the range of values to plot on the horizontal axis, as well as the interval represented by each print position on the horizontal axis	AXIS=
	Order the values on the horizontal axis with the largest value in the leftmost position	REVERSE
Control the appearance of the plot
	Connect the leftmost plotting symbol to the rightmost plotting symbol with a line of hyphens (-)	HILOC
	Connect the leftmost and rightmost symbols on each line of the plot with a line of hyphens (-) regardless of whether the symbols are reference symbols or plotting symbols	JOINREF
	Suppress the name of the symbol variable in column headings when you use a CLASS statement	NOSYMNAME
	Suppress the listing of the values of the variables that appear in the PLOT statement	NPP
	Specify the number of print positions to use for the horizontal axis	POS=
Create and customize a reference line
	Draw lines on the plot that are perpendicular to the specified values on the horizontal axis	REF=
	Specify the character for drawing reference lines	REFCHAR=
Display multiple plots on the same set of axes
	Plot all requests in one PLOT statement on one set of axes	OVERLAY
	Specify the character to print if multiple plotting symbols coincide	OVPCHAR=

Required Arguments

plot-request(s)

specifies the variable or variables to plot. (Optional) Also specifies the plotting symbol to use. By default, each plot request produces a separate plot.

A plot request can have the following forms. You can mix different forms of requests in one PLOT statement (see Superimposing Two Plots).

variable(s)

identifies one or more numeric variables to plot. PROC TIMEPLOT uses the first character of the variable name as the plotting symbol.

Featured in:

Plotting a Single Variable

(variable(s))='plotting-symbol'

identifies one or more numeric variables to plot and specifies the plotting symbol to use for all variables in the list. You can omit the parentheses if you use only one variable.

Featured in:

Customizing an Axis and a Plotting Symbol

(variable(s))=symbol-variable

identifies one or more numeric variables to plot and specifies a symbol variable. PROC TIMEPLOT uses the first nonblank character of the formatted value of the symbol variable as the plotting symbol for all variables in the list. The plotting symbol changes from one observation to the next if the value of the symbol variable changes. You can omit the parentheses if you use only one variable.

Featured in:

Using a Variable for a Plotting Symbol

Options

AXIS=axis-specification

specifies the range of values to plot on the horizontal axis, as well as the interval represented by each print position on the axis. PROC TIMEPLOT labels the first and last ends of the axis, if space permits.

For numeric values, axis-specification can be one of the following or a combination of both:

n<. . .n>

n TO n <BY increment>

The values must be in either ascending or descending order. Use a negative value for increment to specify descending order. The specified values are spaced evenly along the horizontal axis even if the values are not uniformly distributed. Numeric values can be specified in the following ways:

Specification		Comments
axis=1 2 10		Values are 1, 2, and 10.
axis=10 to 100 by 5		Values appear in increments of 5, starting at 10 and ending at 100.
axis=12 10 to 100 by 5		A combination of the two previous forms of specification.

For axis variables that contain datetime values, axis-specification is either an explicit list of values or a starting and an ending value with an increment specified:

'date-time-value'i <. . . 'date-time-value'i>

'date-time-value'i TO 'date-time-value'i
<BY increment>
'date-time-value'i

any SAS date, time, or datetime value described for the SAS functions INTCK and INTNX. The suffix i is one of the following:

D date

T time

DT datetime

increment
one of the valid arguments for the INTCK or INTNX functions. For dates, increment can be one of the following:

DAY WEEK MONTH QTR YEAR

For datetimes, increment can be one of the following:

DTDAY DTWEEK DTMONTH DTQTR DTYEAR

For times, increment can be one of the following:

HOUR MINUTE SECOND

For example,
```
axis='01JAN95'd to '01JAN96'd by month
axis='01JAN95'd to '01JAN96'd by qtr
```
For descriptions of individual intervals, see the chapter on dates, times, and intervals in SAS Language Reference: Concepts.

Note: You must use a FORMAT statement to print the tick-mark values in an understandable form.

Interaction:	The value of POS= (see POS=) overrides an interval set with AXIS=.
Tip:	If the range that you specify does not include all your data, then PROC TIMEPLOT uses angle brackets (< or >) on the left or right border of the plot to indicate a value that is outside the range.
Featured in:	Customizing an Axis and a Plotting Symbol

HILOC

connects the leftmost plotting symbol to the rightmost plotting symbol with a line of hyphens (-).

Interactions:

If you specify JOINREF, then PROC TIMEPLOT ignores HILOC.

JOINREF

connects the leftmost and rightmost symbols on each line of the plot with a line of hyphens (-), regardless of whether the symbols are reference symbols or plotting symbols. However, if a line contains only reference symbols, then PROC TIMEPLOT does not connect the symbols.

Featured in:

Using a Variable for a Plotting Symbol

NOSYMNAME

suppresses the name of the symbol variable in column headings when you use a CLASS statement. If you use NOSYMNAME, then only the value of the symbol variable appears in the column heading.

Featured in:

Showing Multiple Observations on One Line of a Plot

NPP

suppresses the listing of the values of the variables that appear in the PLOT statement.

Featured in:

Using a Variable for a Plotting Symbol

OVERLAY

plots all requests in one PLOT statement on one set of axes. Otherwise, PROC TIMEPLOT produces a separate plot for each plot request.

Featured in:

Superimposing Two Plots

OVPCHAR='character'

specifies the character to print if multiple plotting symbols coincide. If a plotting symbol and a character in a reference line coincide, then PROC TIMEPLOT prints the plotting symbol.

Default:	at sign (@)
Featured in:	Showing Multiple Observations on One Line of a Plot

POS=print-positions-for-plot

specifies the number of print positions to use for the horizontal axis.

Default:	If you omit both POS= and AXIS=, then PROC TIMEPLOT initially assumes that POS=20. However, if space permits, then this value increases so that the plot fills the available space.
Interaction:	If you specify POS=0 and AXIS=, then the plot fills the available space. POS= overrides an interval set with AXIS= (see the discussion of AXIS=).
See also:	Page Layout
Featured in:	Plotting a Single Variable

REF=reference-value(s)

draws lines on the plot that are perpendicular to the specified values on the horizontal axis. The values for reference-value(s) can be constants, or you can use the form

MEAN(variable(s))

If you use this form of REF=, then PROC TIMEPLOT evaluates the mean for each variable that you list and draws a reference line for each mean.

Interaction:	If you use the UNIFORM option in the PROC TIMEPLOT statement, then the procedure calculates the mean values for the variables over all observations for all BY groups. If you do not use UNIFORM, then the procedure calculates the mean for each variable for each BY group.
Interaction:	If a plotting symbol and a reference character coincide, then PROC TIMEPLOT prints the plotting symbol.

Featured in:

Using a Variable for a Plotting Symbol and Superimposing Two Plots

REFCHAR='character'

specifies the character for drawing reference lines.

Default:	vertical bar (\|)
Interaction:	If you are using the JOINREF or HILOC option, then do not specify a value for REFCHAR= that is the same as a plotting symbol, because PROC TIMEPLOT will interpret the plotting symbols as reference characters and will not connect the symbols as you expect.
Featured in:	Using a Variable for a Plotting Symbol

REVERSE

orders the values on the horizontal axis with the largest value in the leftmost position.

Featured in:

Superimposing Two Plots

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D		date
T		time
DT		datetime