Introduction to SAS/GRAPH Statistical Graphics Procedures

Overview of SAS/GRAPH Statistical Graphics Procedures

SAS/GRAPH statistical graphics procedures (SG procedures) enable you to easily create complex statistical graphics that use the principles of effective graphics(footnote 1) to accurately communicate the results of your analysis to your consumers. The SG procedures require minimal coding, which enables you to focus on your statistical analysis instead of the visual appearance of your graphs.

Default appearance attributes such as colors, fonts, and line styles are set by the current ODS style. SAS provides a set of styles that have been optimized to produce clear and effective graphics. Attributes have been chosen to ensure that graph elements have sufficient visibility and contrast, even when color is not used. Graphs elements are visually balanced so that no one element unintentionally appears to be more important than any other. Graphs produced by the SG procedures are clean and uncluttered, which enables you to make easy comparisons and interpret information accurately.

The SG procedures use the Graph Template Language (GTL) to create the most commonly used graphs. The GTL is a comprehensive language for defining statistical graphics. For more information about the GTL, see SAS/GRAPH: Graph Template Language User's Guide.

There are five SAS/GRAPH statistical graphics procedures, each with a specific purpose. Each procedure supports BY processing and the paging of large paneled graphs where applicable.

The SGPLOT procedure is designed to create a single-celled graph, with multiple plots overlaid within a single set of axes. The procedure syntax supports many different types of plots and graph features.
The SGPANEL procedure creates classification panels for one or more classification variables. Each graph cell in the panel can contain either a simple plot or multiple, overlaid plots.
The SGSCATTER procedure creates paneled graphs with multiple scatter plots. You can create three different types of layouts.
The SGRENDER procedure is a utility procedure that produces graphs from templates that are written in the Graph Template Language.
The SGDESIGN procedure creates graphical output based on a graph file that has been created by using the SAS/GRAPH ODS Graphics Designer application.

FOOTNOTE 1: For more information about the principles of effective graphics, see Cleveland (1993) and Robbins (2005).

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