SAS

1.

Identify which of the following variable names are valid SAS names:
Height
HeightInCentimeters
Height_in_centimeters
Wt-Kg
x123y456
76Trombones
MiXeDCasE
Sas Names follow a simple naming rule:
All SAS variable names and data set names can be no longer than 32 characters.
They must begin with a letter OR _ (underscore) character.
The remaining characters in the name may be letters, digits, or underscore character.
Characters such as dashes and spaces are not allowed.
2. In the following list, classify each data set name as valid or invalid:
Clinic
clinic
work
hyphens-in-the-name
123GO
Demographics_2006
Question #3.
You have a data set consisting of Student ID, English, History, Math, and Science test scores on 10
students.
The number of variables is __________
The number of observations is __________

Question#4
True or false:
You can place more than one SAS statement on a single line.
You can use several lines for a single SAS statement.
SAS has three data types: character, numeric, and integer.
OPTIONS and TITLE statements are considered global statements.
SAS has only two types of variables: character and numeric. This makes it much simpler to use and
understand than some other programs that have many more data types (for example, integer, long
integer, and logical).
SAS determines a fixed storage length for every variable.
Most SAS users never need to think about storage lengths for numerical valuesthey are stored in 8
bytes (about14 or 15 significant digits, depending on your operating system) if you dont specify
otherwise.
Each character value (data stored as letters, special characters, and numerals) is assigned a fixed storage
length explicitly by program statements or by various rules that SAS has about the length of character
values.

Question#5
What is the default storage length for SAS numeric variables (in bytes)?
Most SAS users never need to think about storage lengths for numerical valuesthey are stored in 8
bytes (about14 or 15 significant digits, depending on your operating system) if you dont specify
otherwise.
1.
2.

3.

What are the data types in SAS?

Two types of data types (a) Numeric (b) Character
Related Terms
SAS Dataset
Observation
Variable

What is the limitation on the max. number of variables?

Limitation on
Prior to SAS 9.1
Max. No of Variables
32767
Max. No of Variables

4.

Table
Row
Column

Depends on the capacity of the

Computer

What is SAS descriptor portion?.

(1) SAS Dataset name
(2) Date on which SAS dataset is created
(3) Version of SAS
(4) Information about each variable
Name of the variable
Type
Length
Position at which field is located

From and After SAS 9.1

Depends on the capacity of the
Computer
Depends on the capacity of the
Computer

5.

Rules for names of variables and SAS dataset members?

o Name must be 32 characters or lesser in length
o Name must start with a letter or an underscore (_)
o Name can contain only letters, numerals or underscores. No special characters
o Name may be upper case or lower case
SAS is case insensitive
6. What is the meaning of system option VALIDVARNAMES=ANY
It means that variable name can contain special characters including spaces.
7.

8.
9.

What are the steps in SAS?

DATA
PROC
Which step creates SAS dataset?
DATA
What is the SAS dataset name for the below example.
DATA distance;
Miles =26.22;
Kilometers = 1.61 * miles;
Name of the dataset: DISTANCE

10. What does DATA and PROC step do?

DATA step to create a SAS dataset and then passes the data to a PROC step after processing.
DATA