Example 4.8 Saving Percentiles in an Output Data Set

This example, which uses the Belts data set from the previous example, illustrates how to save percentiles in an output data set. The UNIVARIATE procedure automatically computes the 1st, 5th, 10th, 25th, 75th, 90th, 95th, and 99th percentiles for each variable. You can save these percentiles in an output data set by specifying the appropriate keywords. For example, the following statements create an output data set named PctlStrength, which contains the 5th and 95th percentiles of the variable Strength:

proc univariate data=Belts noprint;
   var Strength Width;
   output out=PctlStrength p5=p5str p95=p95str;
run;

The output data set PctlStrength is listed in Output 4.8.1.

You can use the PCTLPTS=, PCTLPRE=, and PCTLNAME= options to save percentiles not automatically computed by the UNIVARIATE procedure. For example, the following statements create an output data set named Pctls, which contains the 20th and 40th percentiles of the variables Strength and Width:

proc univariate data=Belts noprint;
   var Strength Width;
   output out=Pctls pctlpts  = 20 40
                    pctlpre  = Strength Width
                    pctlname = pct20 pct40;
run;

The PCTLPTS= option specifies the percentiles to compute (in this case, the 20th and 40th percentiles). The PCTLPRE= and PCTLNAME= options build the names for the variables containing the percentiles. The PCTLPRE= option gives prefixes for the new variables, and the PCTLNAME= option gives a suffix to add to the prefix. When you use the PCTLPTS= specification, you must also use the PCTLPRE= specification.

The OUTPUT statement saves the 20th and 40th percentiles of Strength and Width in the variables Strengthpct20, Widthpct20, Strengthpct40, and Weightpct40. The output data set Pctls is listed in Output 4.8.2.

A sample program for this example, uniex06.sas, is available in the SAS Sample Library for Base SAS software.