topic How to select part of the data using proc sql? in SAS Procedures

How to select part of the data using proc sql?

qinghe — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 01:13:04 GMT

Hi,

My data set is huge. I don't want to use the whole data set during programming. How do I select certain amount of data for each category with proc sql, for example, to get 10 obs for each state/sex/age group?

Best regards,

Qinghe

Re: How to select part of the data using proc sql?

LinusH — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 06:24:41 GMT

Is your aim to create a smaller permanent data set?

Why limit yourself to SQL?

If you have SAS/STAT licensed PROC SURVEYSELECT is your go-to for creating samples.

If our data set is sorted, you could use a data step to read the first n observations of the specified BY groups.

Re: How to select part of the data using proc sql?

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:41:32 GMT

An example for using a sorted dataset:

data want;
_n_ = 1;
do until (last.state);
  set have;
  by state;
  if _n_ le 10 then output;
  _n_ + 1;
end;
run;