Hi @Pooja98
Both DATA step merges and PROC SQL joins enable to join two or more tables.
Sometimes they can produce the same outputs.
Here are some of the main differences:
- contrary to DATA step merges, you don't need to sort your data when you use PROC SQL joins
- you need to add a "create table xxx as" clause in the PROC SQL as the default output is a report
- common columns need to have the same name in a DATA step merge, which is not the case for PROC SQL.
- PROC SQL does not overlay common columns by default -> you need to mention one explicitly in the select clause or use the COALESCE option
- Another thing is that you can use another operator that = in you joint expression.
- in case your input datasets have not a unique "key" for merging, it is useful to use PROC SQL as by design, it will create the Cartesian product of input datasets as the result and then delete observations that don't meet the join expression condition(s) -> so depending on the method you choose, you can have different results.
PROC SQL can be also more efficient, especially if you have large datasets.
Hope this help!
Best,
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