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Basic SAS Procedures - PROC CONTENTS

 

  • Describes the structure of the data set rather than the data values.
  • Displays valuable information at the...
    • Data set level
      • Name
      • Engine
      • Creation date
      • Number of observations
      • Number of variables
      • File size (bytes)
    • Variable level
      • Name
      • Type
      • Length
      • Formats
      • Position
      • Label
  • Useful Options...
    • Position - output lists the variables by their position in the data set (default is alphabetical).

              proc contents data= test  position; 
        run;

    • Short - output is just the variable names in a row by row format.

              proc contents data= test  short; 
        run;

    • Out= filename - creates a data set where each observation is a variable from the original data set.

              proc contents data= test out= test2 noprint;
        run;

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