06-Modifying-and-Combining-SAS-Data-Sets推荐.pdf

The Little SAS Book: A Primer, Fifth Edition Chapter 6: Modifying and Combining SAS Data Sets I usually say, The computer is the dumbest thing on campus. It does exactly what you tell it to; not necessarily what you want. Logic is up to you. Necia A. Black, R.N., Ph.D. From the SAS-L Listserv, May 6, 1994. Reprinted by permission of the author. 6.1 Modifying a Data Set Using the SET Statement The SET statement in the DATA step allows you to read a SAS data set so you can add new variables, create a subset, or otherwise modify the data set. If you were short on disk space, for example, you might not want to store your computed variables in a permanent SAS data set. Instead, you might want to calculate them as needed for analysis. Likewise, to save processing time, you might want to create a subset of a SAS data set when you only want to look at a small portion of a large data set. The SET statement brings a SAS data set, one observation at a time, into the DATA step for processing.[1] To read a SAS data set, start with the DATA statement specifying the name of the new data set. Then follow with the SET statement specifying the name of the old data set you want to read. If you dont want to create a new data set, you can specify the same name in the DATA and SET statements. Then the results of the DATA step will overwrite the old data set named in the SET statement.[2] The following shows the general form of the DATA and SET statements: DATA new-data-set; SET data-set; Any assignment, subsetting IF, or other DATA step statements usually follow the SET statement. For example, the following creates a new data set, FRIDAY, which is a replica of the SALES data set, except FRIDAY has only the observations for Fridays, and it has an additional variable, Total: DATA friday; SET sales; IF Day = F; Total = Popcorn + Peanuts; RUN; Example