What is the content of an index in SAS?

[GN0001]

Hello team,

What is the content of an index in SAS?

Is it a copy of the values of a variable we create index on or is it a pointer to a observation?

Thanks,

BlueSky

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

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@GN0001 wrote:

Hello team,

What is the content of an index in SAS?

Is it a copy of the values of a variable we create index on or is it a pointer to a observation?

Thanks,

BlueSky

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Both. It contains records consisting of the index values and the observation pointers, sorted by the index values.

[ChrisNZ]

Note that the index values are not searched sequentially: A binary search is performed.

See here for more information about SAS indexes https://documentation.sas.com/doc/en/pgmsascdc/9.4_3.5/lrcon/n06cy7dznbx6gen1q9mat8de6rdq.htm

Also note that SPDE files use much more sophisticated indexes than what the default BASE engine uses.