Chapter 7: Statements

Definition of Statements

A SAS statement is a series of items that may include keywords, SAS names , special characters , and operators. All SAS statements end with a semicolon. A SAS statement either requests SAS to perform an operation or gives information to the system.

This documentation covers two kinds of SAS statements:

• those that are used in DATA step programming

• those that are global in scope and can be used anywhere in a SAS program.

The Base SAS Procedures Guide gives detailed descriptions of the SAS statements that are specific to each SAS procedure. SAS Output Delivery System: User's Guide gives detailed descriptions of the Output Delivery System (ODS) statements.