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 section 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.

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

Executable and Declarative DATA Step Statements

DATA step statements are executable or declarative statements that can appear in the DATA step. Executable statements result in some action during individual iterations of the DATA step; declarative statements supply information to SAS and take effect when the system compiles program statements.

The following tables show the SAS executable and declarative statements that you can use in the DATA step.

Table 4.7: Executable Statements in the DATA Step

Executable Statements
ABORT	IF, Subsetting	PUT
assignment	IF-THEN/ELSE	PUT, Column
CALL	INFILE	PUT, Formatted
CONTINUE	INPUT	PUT, List
DECLARE	INPUT, Column	PUT, Named
DELETE	INPUT, Formatted	PUT, _ODS_
DESCRIBE	INPUT, List	PUTLOG
DISPLAY	INPUT, Named	REDIRECT
DO	LEAVE	REMOVE
DO, Iterative	LINK	REPLACE
DO Until	LIST	RETURN
DO While	LOSTCARD	SELECT
ERROR	MERGE	SET
EXECUTE	MODIFY	STOP
FILE	_NEW_	Sum
FILE, ODS	Null	UPDATE
GO TO	OUTPUT

Table 4.8: Declarative Statements in the DATA Step

Declarative Statements
ARRAY	DATALINES	LABEL
Array Reference	DATALINES4	Labels, Statement
ATTRIB	DROP	LENGTH
BY	END	RENAME
CARDS	FORMAT	RETAIN
CARDS4	INFORMAT	WHERE
DATA	KEEP	WINDOW

Global Statements

Global statements generally provide information to SAS, request information or data, move between different modes of execution, or set values for system options. Other global statements (ODS statements) deliver output in a variety of formats, such as in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). You can use global statements anywhere in a SAS program. Global statements are not executable; they take effect as soon as SAS compiles program statements.

Other SAS software products have additional global statements that are used with those products. For information, see the SAS documentation for those products.