topic Re: SAS Temporary Variables in SAS Programming

SAS Temporary Variables

SharonO — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 18:42:43 GMT

How can I display/output/view the temporary variables SAS creates?

Examples:

by city state zip

ouput

city state zip first.city last.city first.state last.state first.zip last.zip

Astounding — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 19:21:29 GMT

There are a couple of possibilities, both subject to this "feature": once the DATA step ends, those variables no longer exist.

One possibility: add PUT statements in the DATA step that write the variables to the log. Example:

if _n_ < 20 then put city state zip first.city last.city first.state last.state first.zip last.zip;

Another possibility: copy the variables, and store the copies in the data set. Example:

first_state = first.state;

last_state = last.state;

You can examine them after the DATA step is complete.

data_null__ — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 21:16:58 GMT

As a learning exercise you can put the entire PDF and observations into an associative array.