Content Updates for SAS® Certification Base Prep Guide
You can create practice data and then use the data to run examples in the certification guide. Here are the instructions for creating practice data depending on your environment:
SAS® Windowing Environment
To set up practice data in SAS, select Help -> Learning SAS Programming from the main SAS menu. When the SAS Online Training Sample Data window appears, click OK to create sample data.
SAS® Studio and SAS® University Edition
If you are using SAS Studio or SAS University Edition, you might not have Write access to the Sasuser directory where the sample data is stored.
To determine whether the Sasuser folder is Read only, submit the following code:
proc options option=rsasuser;
run;
If the result from the PROC OPTIONS code is NORSASUSER, the Sasuser folder is writable, and you can take the following steps to set up practice data in SAS Studio:
- Copy the sample data program into a new Code window in SAS Studio. You can access it here: sample data.
- Click Run.
If the result from the PROC OPTIONS code is RSASUSER, the Sasuser folder is Read only, and you must redirect the Sasuser folder by using the LIBNAME statement. To set up practice data:
- In the Folders pane, select My Folders. Then, right-click and select New -> Folder.
- In the Name box, type a folder name. In our examples, we use the name certprep. Click Save.
- Redirect your SASUSER library to the new folder as follows:
If you are using SAS University Edition, submit a LIBNAME statement by copying the following code into the Code tab:
libname sasuser "/folders/myfolders/certprep";
Note: You must use the file name of the new directory. In our examples, we use the name certprep. If you use another file name, substitute the name that you created for certprep.
If you are using SAS Studio, do the following:
1. Right-click the new folder that you created and select Properties.
2. Copy the path in the Location field.
3. Enter the following code, replacing location field with the path that you copied from the Location field.
libname sasuser "location field";
4. Click Run.
5. Save the program as libname_cert.sas. You must resubmit this LIBNAME statement program every time you work with the sample data.
6. Copy the sample data program into a new Code window in SAS Studio. You can access the sample data.
7. Click Run.
SAS® Enterprise Guide®
To download the sample data:
- Start SAS Enterprise Guide.
- In the Welcome to SAS Enterprise window, select New Project.
- Select File -> New -> Program.
- Depending on your network configuration, you might not have Write access to the Sasuser directory where the sample data is stored. To determine the status of the Sasuser directory, submit the following code:
proc options option=rsasuser;
run;
- If the result from the PROC OPTIONS code is RSASUSER, you must redirect the Sasuser folder by creating a new folder. From your server area, open the Files folder, right-click on a drive or folder, and select New Folder. Enter the new folder name.
Note: If the result from the PROC OPTIONS code is NORSASUSER, the Sasuser folder is writable, and you do not have to redirect the Sasuser folder. Therefore, you can skip this step and the next one. - Submit the following code in a Code window.
libname sasuser "/folders/myfolders/certprep";
Note: You must use the filename of the new folder. In our examples, we use the name certprep. If you use another filename, substitute the folder name that you created for certprep.
- Copy the sample data program into the Program window and then run the program. You can access the sample data at sample data.
- Because you will not need to use these shortcuts, you can delete the Program item and all the shortcuts from the project. This action will not delete the data that you created. To delete the item from the project, right-click Program and select Delete.
- In the Confirmation window, click Yes.
Updates to the SAS® Certification Prep Guide: Base Programming for SAS®9.
The following chapter numbers and page numbers apply to SAS Certification Prep Guide: Base Programming for SAS®9, Third Edition, ISBN number 978-1-60764-924-3. You can find the ISBN number on the copyright page.
Note: The following is an update to the September 2015 iteration. Page numbers in other ISBN versions might vary.
Chapter
Page
Update
10
307
The tip about the sum statement should read as follows: The sum statement is one of the few SAS statements that don’t begin with a keyword.
Note: The items in this list have been resolved and incorporated into the September 2015 iteration. Page numbers in other ISBN versions might vary.
Chapter
Page
Update
The "Creating Enhanced List and Summary Reports" chapter was removed from the third edition.
1
19
In the sentence at the top of the page,
For example, to display the value 1234 as $1,234.00 in a report, you can use the DOLLAR8.2 format, as shown for Total below. "The DOLLAR format should be DOLLAR9.2 (and not 8.2) to accommodate the full width of the output field, which in this case is 9 bytes (or 9 digits, including the $ sign, the comma, and the decimal point).
In the table that follows (Table 1.9 Format Attribute), the Format for the variable Total should also be DOLLAR9.2.
2
62
This first sentence in paragraph two should read as follows:
"In the following example, the observations are longer than 64 characters, so the output continues on a subsequent line."
2
62
The output in Figures 2.28 and 2.29 is incorrect and should be shown as follows:
Notice that the Obs column numbers (1-8) are repeated because the observations have wrapped to the next line.
4
132
In the example, the value for the LABEL statement should be contained in quotes, as shown here:
label walkjogrun=’Walk/Jog/Run’;
4
132
The title for Figure 4.28 incorrectly labels the output as being "Without" the LABEL option when it should be "With," as shown below:
Figure 4.28 Output Created With the LABEL Option
7
238
The bullet, "limit the label to 256 characters," should be "limit the label to 32767 characters."
11
339
The Selected PDV Variables table should contain a "Salary" column showing salary data rather than the "Payroll" column.
11
339
*This example requires the use of the data set USA, which you can access by running this SAS program (copy and paste the contents of the text file into your SAS session and run it).
The output shown in Figure 11.4 is incorrect and should be shown as follows:
11
339
* This example requires the use of the data set USA, which you can access by running this SAS program (copy and paste the contents of the text file into your SAS session and run it).
The values in Figure 11.5 are incorrect. The Selected PDF Variables should contain the following values as well as a "Yearly” column showing employees’ yearly salaries:
11
340
* This example requires the use of the data set USA, which you can access by running this SAS program (copy and paste the contents of the text file into your SAS session and run it).
The values in Figure 11.6 showing the Payroll Sum are incorrect and should be shown as follows:
11
341
* This example requires the use of the data set USA, which you can access by running this SAS program (copy and paste the contents of the text file into your SAS session and run it).
The values in Figure 11.7 are incorrect. The Selected PDF Variables should contain the following values as well as a "Yearly” column showing employees’ yearly salary.
12
360
One-to-one merging should be one-to-one reading.
12
362-365
One-to-one merging should be one-to-one reading.
17
537
In the "Using List Input" section, the fileref, Credit, should be Creditc.
17
538
Figure 17.4 should be Raw Data File Creditc.
In the "Processing List Input" section, the infile statement should be:
infile creditc;
17
541
The infile statement should be:
infile comma dlm=',';
17
542
In the "Reading a Range of Variables" section, the infile statement should be:
infile phonsurv;
17
544
The infile statement should be:
infile creditc missover;
17
545
In the code after Figure 17.20, the infile statement should be:
infile credit2 dsd;
17
546
In the code after Figure 17.21, the infile statement should be:
infile credit3 dsd dlm='*';
In the code after Figure 17.22, the infile statement should be:
infile credit4 dsd;
17
547
In the code after figure 17.23, the infile statement should be:
infile credit5 dsd dlm=' ';
17
548
In the code after Figure 17.25, the infile statement should be:
infile citydata;
17
549
In the section "The Length Statement," the infile statement should be:
infile citydata;
17
551
In the section, "Using the & Modifier with a LENGTH Statement," the infile statement should be:
infile topten;
17
552
In the code after Figure 17.32, the infile statement should be:
infile topten;
17
553
In the code after Figure 17.33, the infile statement should be:
infile topten;
In the code after Figure 17.34, the infile statement should be:
infile topten;
Appendix 1 Quiz Answer Keys
706
The correct answer should be "a. HTML and PDF." The explanation is correct.
HTML output is created by default in the SAS windowing environment.
These statements create HTML and PDF output.