Creating a Subset of Observations or Variables

Select 'Copy...' from the File pull-down menu on the main window to create a new data set that is a subset of the current data set. You can specify that only certain observations are to be included in the new data set, that only certain variables are to be included, or both. Observations can be selected by supplying selection criteria, defining a range of observations, or taking a random sample.

This option is particularly valuable when you have a large data set that you want to analyze with SAS/LAB software. For example, SAS/LAB is slowed considerably when a large number of variables must be manipulated for creation of variable selection lists. If your data set has fifty variables or more and you know that only ten of them will be used in your analysis, you should consider creating a new data set that includes only those ten variables.

The data set you create can be either a temporary (existing only for the current SAS session) or permanent (existing across SAS sessions) SAS data set. The created data set becomes SAS/LAB software's current data set.