SAS® Essentials:
An Introduction to SAS® Programming

Duration

3 days

Description

This course is for users who want to learn how to write SAS programs. It is the entry point to learning SAS programming and is a prerequisite to many other SAS courses. If you do not plan to write SAS programs and you prefer a point-and-click interface, you should attend the Querying and Reporting Using SAS Enterprise Guide course.

Learn How To:

Navigate the SAS windowing environment Read various types of data into SAS data sets validate and clean SAS data sets create SAS variables and subset data combine SAS data sets create and enhance listing and summary reports.

Who should attend:

Anyone getting started writing SAS programs Prerequisites Before attending this course, you should have experience using computer software. Specifically, you should be able to understand file structures and system commands on your operating systems access data files on your operating systems.

No prior SAS experience is needed. If you do not feel comfortable with the prerequisites or are new to programming and think that the pace of this course might be too demanding, you can take the SAS Programming Introduction: Basic Concepts course before attending this course. SAS Programming Introduction: Basic Concepts is designed to introduce you to computer programming and presents a portion of the SAS Programming 1: Essentials material at a slower pace.

Course Topics

an overview of Foundation SAS

• Getting Started with SAS
• introduction to SAS programs
• submitting a SAS program
• Working with SAS Syntax

mastering fundamental concepts

• diagnosing and correcting syntax errors Getting Familiar with SAS Data Sets

examining descriptor and data portions

• accessing SAS data libraries
• accessing relational databases (Self-Study) Reading SAS Data Sets

introduction to reading data

• using SAS data as input
• subsetting observations and variables
• adding permanent attributes
• Reading Excel Worksheets

using Excel data as input

• doing more with Excel worksheets (Self-Study) Reading Delimited Raw Data Files

using standard delimited data as input

• using nonstandard delimited data as input Validating and Cleaning Data introduction to validating and cleaning data examining data errors when reading raw data files validating data with the PRINT and FREQ procedures validating data with the MEANS and UNIVARIATE procedures cleaning invalid data Manipulating Data

creating variables

• creating variables conditionally
• subsetting observations
• Combining SAS Data Sets

introduction to combining data sets

• appending a data set
• contenating data sets
• merging data sets one-to-one
• merging data sets one-to-many
• merging data sets with non-matches
• Enhancing Reports

using global statements

• adding labels and formats
• creating user-defined formats
• subsetting and grouping observations
• directing output to external files
• Producing Summary Reports

using the FREQ procedure

• using the MEANS procedure
• using the TABULATE procedure (Self-Study) Introduction to Graphics Using SAS/GRAPH (Self-Study)

creating bar and pie charts

• creating plots
• enhancing output
• Software Addressed
• This course addresses the following software product(s): Base SAS. This course also addresses SAS/ACCESS to PC Files and SAS/GRAPH software. This course is appropriate for students who are using SAS 9 software.