DATA STEP

[deleted_user]

can any tell me the difference between DATALINES and CARDS, I had an argument on this if there is no difference then why did they have two for the same purpose

[Tim_SAS]

I don't have any authoritative knowledge about this, but my understanding has always been that DATALINES was added because using the word CARDS to indicate in-stream data became dated, obsolete, and quite possibly confusing to people whose experience doesn't include decks of 80-column punch cards with interspersed JCL, program statements, and data records.

CARDS was okay in 1980. In 2008, not so much.