topic proc sort in SAS Programming https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/proc-sort/m-p/399411#M96732 <P>Given the SAS data set WORKAWARDS:<BR />WORK.AWARDS<BR />FNAMEPOINTSMONTH<BR />----------------------------------<BR />Amy24<BR />Amy17<BR />Gerard33<BR />Wang33<BR />Wang112<BR />Wang18<BR /><BR />The following SAS program is submitted:</P><P><BR />proc sort data = work.awards;<BR /><STRONG>by descending fname points;</STRONG><BR />run;<BR />How are the observations sorted?</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Ans is&nbsp;</P><P>ENAME POINTS MONTH<BR />Wang112<BR />Wang18<BR />Wang33<BR />Gerard33<BR />Amy17<BR />Amy24<BR /><BR /></P><P>Just want to check by <STRONG>descending var1 var2 var3</STRONG>, does it mean only put var 1 in descening order then var2 and var 3 remain as ascending or it means descending var1, within that descend var2, within that descend var3 again? Thanks!!</P> Thu, 28 Sep 2017 06:34:56 GMT pchen002 2017-09-28T06:34:56Z proc sort https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/proc-sort/m-p/399411#M96732 <P>Given the SAS data set WORKAWARDS:<BR />WORK.AWARDS<BR />FNAMEPOINTSMONTH<BR />----------------------------------<BR />Amy24<BR />Amy17<BR />Gerard33<BR />Wang33<BR />Wang112<BR />Wang18<BR /><BR />The following SAS program is submitted:</P><P><BR />proc sort data = work.awards;<BR /><STRONG>by descending fname points;</STRONG><BR />run;<BR />How are the observations sorted?</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Ans is&nbsp;</P><P>ENAME POINTS MONTH<BR />Wang112<BR />Wang18<BR />Wang33<BR />Gerard33<BR />Amy17<BR />Amy24<BR /><BR /></P><P>Just want to check by <STRONG>descending var1 var2 var3</STRONG>, does it mean only put var 1 in descening order then var2 and var 3 remain as ascending or it means descending var1, within that descend var2, within that descend var3 again? Thanks!!</P> Thu, 28 Sep 2017 06:34:56 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/proc-sort/m-p/399411#M96732 pchen002 2017-09-28T06:34:56Z Re: proc sort https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/proc-sort/m-p/399413#M96733 <P>You need to put "descending" in front of every variable that you want in descending order, otherwise it will sort in ascending order.</P> <P>...descending var1 descending var2 descending var3...</P> <P>&nbsp;</P> <P>//Fredrik</P> Thu, 28 Sep 2017 06:38:37 GMT https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Programming/proc-sort/m-p/399413#M96733 FredrikE 2017-09-28T06:38:37Z