How I can see no of observations in my huge dataset (proc contentents gives missing value)

[Debi]

Hi there,

I have a big dataset. I want to see no of observations of that dataset. When  I use 'Proc contents' , it gives me a missing value {dot(.)} against the "observations" field.

Is there any other way, I can get this no of observation. I don't want to use Proc sql;select count(*) as it takes a lot of time to display the output .

Thanks,

Debi

[Astounding]

The typical cases where you can't see the number of observations in your SAS data set:  you don't really have a SAS data set.  You might have a view instead, or you might have access to a table that can be treated as a SAS data set but is really stored in an external data base format.  The output from PROC CONTENTS might provide some of those details.

It is likely that you have no choice but to wait for the COUNT(*) method to finish.  (If there is an external data base involved, you may be able to switch to pass-through SQL, but that's jumping ahead of the game right now.)

[Clash]

Here is what you want;
data _null_;
if 0 then set test nobs=nobs;
call symputx(”nobs”,nobs);
stop;
run;

[Kurt_Bremser]

As  @Astounding already mentioned, this won't work with views.