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USING SAS AT JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY: A SHORT GUIDE for SAS on Windows Joanne M. Doyle (updated 1/2001 by William C. Wood)(updated 3/2005 by Joanne M. Doyle) Introduction SAS is a statistical software package used extensively in many statistical fields, including econometrics. Originally, the program operated on JMU’s Raven mainframe computer only. However, JMU now supports SAS on the PC in all of its general computer labs. Learning to use SAS involves learning the syntax of the program, that is, the rules of creating and executing a program as well as learning how to use the software in the windows environment. If you would prefer to use SAS on the mainframe, you must obtain an account on Raven. You can do so by contacting the computer services department. Instructions for SAS on the Raven can be found at /woodwc/385/sas.htm. SAS can operate in either a batch mode or in an interactive mode of Windows applications. This guide will focus on batch mode and the basics of writing and executing a program of commands. It is very similar quite similar on the PC as on the mainframe Raven. In batch mode, SAS executes your instructions line-by-line from a command file. You then examine the resulting output and make any necessary changes. This approach is not as easy to use as interactive software, but it conserves computing resources to apply raw processing power to the statistical task at hand. The two basic steps for all SAS analyses are 1) writing the program and 2) executing the program.? I. SAS for Windows: BASICS From the Start menu, go to Programs, and the SAS System, and choose the SAS System for Windows V8. This will launch the program. As it comes up you will find several windows on the screen, each with a certain function. 1) The Programming windows The windows that are used for SAS programming are the Program Editor, Log, and Output windows. a) Editor Window: allows you to write, edit and submit SAS programs. A SAS program consists of a list of c