SAS Programming II: Manipulating Data with the DATA Step

Classroom duration: 3.0 days Live Web duration: 6 half-day sessions CEU: 1.8

This course is for those who need to learn SAS DATA step programming techniques for processing, controlling, and manipulating SAS data sets. The course builds on the concepts that are presented in the SAS Programming I: Essentials course and is not recommended for beginning SAS software users.

Learn how to

control SAS data set input and output
combine SAS data sets
summarize, read, and write different types of data
perform DO loop and SAS array processing
transform character, numeric, and date variables.

Who should attend

Business analysts and SAS programmers

Prerequisites

Before attending this course, you should have at least six months of experience writing SAS programs or have completed the SAS Programming I: Essentials course and used SAS for at least one month. Specifically, you should be able to

create and access files in your operating environment
explain the structure of a SAS program
explore the structure and contents of a SAS data set
distinguish between syntax and data errors
debug a SAS program
create a SAS data set from a fixed-format external file
subset the rows and columns of a SAS data set
create derived variables
write conditional logic statements
read and write SAS date values
access SAS data libraries
sort a SAS data set
read one or more SAS data sets using a SET statement
perform a simple merge using a MERGE statement
create detail and summary reports from a SAS data set
place titles and footnotes on reports.

Course Contents

Introduction

review of SAS basics
review of DATA step processing
review of displaying SAS data sets
working with existing SAS data sets

Controlling Input and Output

outputting multiple observations
writing to multiple SAS data sets
selecting variables and observations
writing to external files

Summarizing Data

creating an accumulating total variable
accumulating totals for a group of data

Reading and Writing Different Types of Data

reading delimited raw data files
controlling when a record loads
reading hierarchical raw data files

Data Transformations

manipulating character variables
manipulating numeric variables
manipulating numeric variables based on dates
converting variable type

Processing Data Iteratively

performing DO loop processing
performing SAS array processing

Combining SAS Data Sets

match-merging two or more SAS data sets
performing simple joins using the SQL procedure (self-study)

Learning More

identifying additional resources

Software Addressed

This course addresses the following software product(s): Base SAS. This course is appropriate for students who are using SAS Version 8 or SAS 9 software.

Classroom Course Materials

Students receive a hardcopy of the course notes and, in some courses, can choose to take home a copy of the course data.

Live Web Course Materials

Students attend Live Web classes using a Web browser and a telephone and interact with their instructor and fellow classmates in real time. Each student receives an e-mail with instructions on how to join the class three business days before the class begins. The instructions e-mail includes a link to download the course materials, including the exercise files. Students need to download and print the course materials prior to class.

System Requirements

For Live Web, you must

review and follow the general system requirements.
complete the course exercises through our virtual lab. The virtual lab allows you to access the software used in class over the Internet, so that you do not need this software on your local machine.
run this test to connect to a virtual lab session. If firewall problems prevent you from connecting to the virtual lab, then you will need the following software installed and configured in your environment to participate in the course exercises:
- Base SAS 9 or 8.2 under a Windows operating system or SAS Learning Edition.
  Important:
  - Students using SAS Learning Edition will need to create a shortcut to the SAS windowing environment (SAS Explorer, Enhanced Editor, Log, and Output windows) for use during the class. Follow these instructions for creating a shortcut to SAS prior to class.
  - If you are using Enterprise Guide rather than writing SAS programs in the Enhanced Editor, this class is not an appropriate offering.

Registration

To register for this course in the US, call 800-333-7660 or visit support.sas.com/training. This course is also available for on-site training, or you can create a custom course by combining material from several courses. For more details, contact SAS Education in Cary, NC at 919-531-7321 or send e-mail to training@sas.com.