topic Re: combining datasets in SAS Programming

combining datasets

olorire — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:15:28 GMT

i have two small data sets a & b. a has 1 variable and nine observations. b has 5 variables and 1 observation. there are no commonalities between the two data sets. how can i combine the two datasets to produce a new dataset c with six variables and 9 observations? by the way i am olorire.

Re: combining datasets

stat_sas — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:24:42 GMT

Please provide sample data and desired output.

Re: combining datasets

ballardw — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:28:22 GMT

It depends on how you want the values of the variables resulting. If the values from the one observation set are to only appear once then you can use a data step merge.

data want;

merge a b;

run;

If you want all of the obeservations to have the values from the one observation set then you would want an SQL cartesian (fancy work everything in one set combined with everything in the other) join.

proc sql;

create table want as

select a.*, b.*

from a join b;

quit;

Re: combining datasets

FreelanceReinh — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:39:10 GMT

Hi @olorire,

Would this example match your intention?

/* Create test datasets */

data a;
do i=1 to 9;
  output;
end;
run;

data b;
array x[5] (11:15);
run;

/* Combine the two datasets */

data want;
set a;
if _n_=1 then set b;
run;

@ballardw: Did you mean "from a cross join b;" (or shorter: "from a, b;") ?

Re: combining datasets

Astounding — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:59:05 GMT

While I normally prefer a DATA step solution, note that you can simplify the SQL solution:

proc sql;

create table want as select * from a, b;

quit;

Re: combining datasets

olorire — Wed, 04 May 2016 08:16:29 GMT

Thanks. I have opted for the sql solution although I'm still a rookie as far as that proc is concerned.

olorire

Re: combining datasets

olorire — Wed, 04 May 2016 08:18:44 GMT

Thank you very much. Your coding is appropriate and straightforward.

olorire