In the SAS DATA step, all variables are scalar quantities. Consequently, an IF-THEN/ELSE statement that evaluates a logical expression is unambiguous. For example, the following DATA step statements print "c=5 is TRUE" to the log if the variable c is equal to 5:

if c=5 then put "c=5 is TRUE";
else put "c=5 is FALSE";

In the SAS/IML language, the situation can be more complicated because a variable is usually a matrix or a vector. You can use matrices in logical expressions, but when c is not a scalar quantity, what does the statement if c=5 then... mean? What happens when some of the elements of c are 5, but other elements are not?

The following SAS/IML example illustrates the situation:

proc iml;
c = {5 5 6};
if c=5 then 
   print "c=5 is TRUE";
else 
   print "c=5 is FALSE";

According to the output, the logical expression c=5 evaluates to FALSE. This result can be understood by reading the documentation for the IF-THEN/ELSE statement, which says, "when the condition to be evaluated is a matrix expression, ... this evaluation is equivalent to using the ALL function." In other words, the IF-THEN/ELSE statement is equivalent to the following:

if all(c=5) then 
   print "all(c=5) is TRUE";
else 
   print "all(c=5) is FALSE";

The ALL function evaluates to TRUE when all of the elements in a matrix are nonzero and nonmissing. As I recently mentioned, you can use the RESET PRINTALL statement to see temporary matrices that SAS/IML creates when it evaluates logical expressions. The expression c=5 results in the temporary matrix {1 1 0}. The ALL function returns 0 (FALSE) for that matrix.

If you want a condition to evaluate to TRUE if any element in a matrix satisfies a criterion, then use the ANY function explicitly, as follows:

if any(c=5) then 
   print "any(c=5) is TRUE";
else 
   print "any(c=5) is FALSE";

The takeaway lesson is that a matrix expression can be used in an IF-THEN/ELSE statement in the SAS/IML language. The THEN condition will be executed when all of the elements in the matrix satisfy the expression. The ELSE condition will be executed if one or more elements do not satisfy the expression.