Deleting Observertions

[sasthebest]

Is there a more efficient way to delete observations from a dataset without creating a new dataset and deleting the INDEX other that PROC SQL; DELETE? I find PROC SQL; DELETE very inefficient.

If not, is there another way of deleting observations from a dataset and creating a new one without deleting the INDEX?

[jakarman]

remember old FSEDIT.....  modifying in place. Big data was just a lot smaller those days.

SAS(R) 9.4 Statements: Reference, Second Edition

It has the options output (write new record), replace (update) and  remove (delete) .

More work as you read that and you have to take backup/restore options.

SAS dataset/tables are having many options almost like a RDBMS. 

You could even think on an audit-trail  SAS(R) 9.4 Language Reference: Concepts, Second Edition