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Programming Tips

Strengthen your programming skills with tips and techniques from the experts

Programming Tips

Chris Hemedinger

Chris HemedingerNovember 21, 2017 0

Computing a date from the past (or future) with SAS

Social media has brought anniversary dates to the forefront. Every day, my view of Google Photos or Facebook shows me a collection of photos from exactly some number of years ago to remind me of how good things were back then. These apps are performing the simplest of date-based math

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonNovember 21, 2017 0

How a data guy cooks a Thanksgiving dinner!

Here in the US, we're preparing to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. Therefore this Thursday most families in the US will be having a big turkey dinner. Although I'm a bachelor guy and eat out all the time, I'm actually a pretty good cook - and I'd like to share with

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Retail | Sports & Entertainment

Advanced Analytics | Programming Tips

Steven SoberNovember 20, 2017 0

How to Emulate PROC APPEND in CAS

SAS Viya provides a robust, scalable, cloud-ready, distributed runtime engine. This engine is driven by CAS (Cloud Analytic Services), providing fast processing for many data management techniques that run distributive, i.e. using all threads on all defined compute nodes. Note: SAS Viya 3.5+ now supports the data set option APPEND=YES.

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Analytics | Programming Tips

Beta-binomial distribution and expected values in SAS

Rick WicklinNovember 20, 2017 0

Simulate data from the beta-binomial distribution in SAS

This article shows how to simulate beta-binomial data in SAS and how to compute the density function (PDF). The beta-binomial distribution is a discrete compound distribution. The "binomial" part of the name means that the discrete random variable X follows a binomial distribution with parameters N (number of trials) and

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Analytics | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonNovember 17, 2017 0

Does your dashboard measure up?

Information Dashboards were the hot topic a few years ago, but the hype seems to have died down lately. A good dashboard is still a very useful way to summarize, analyze, and share data - so I thought I'd re-visit the topic, and try to improve an old dashboard. Did

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Manufacturing | Retail

Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Jane EslingerNovember 17, 2017 0

The ODS Destination for PowerPoint Has a New Option

Have you heard? The ODS Destination for PowerPoint Has a New Option It’s true. The ODS destination for PowerPoint now has the STARTPAGE= option, which provides you with greater control and flexibility when creating presentations. Added to the ODS POWERPOINT statement in SAS® 9.4TS1M4, the STARTPAGE= option enables you to

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Warren F. KuhfeldNovember 17, 2017 0

Advanced ODS Graphics: A deeper dive into item stores

We'll take a deeper dive into understanding item stores--the files in which compiled templates are stored--and ways in which you can access them. At the end, I will show you one of my new examples: displaying percentages in the Kaplan-Meier failure plot.

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinNovember 15, 2017 0

Catch run-time errors in SAS/IML programs

Did you know that a SAS/IML function can recover from a run-time error? You can specify how to handle run-time errors by using a programming technique that is similar to the modern "try-catch" technique, although the SAS/IML technique is an older implementation. Preventing errors versus handling errors In general, SAS/IML

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeNovember 14, 2017 0

Spark table

In the previous post, I discussed creating a 2D grid of spark lines by Year and Claim Type. This graph was presented in the SESUG conference held last week on SAS campus in the paper ""Methods for creating Sparklines using SAS" by Rick Andrews. This grid of sparklines was actually the

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Banking | Communications | Energy & Utilities | Health Care | Insurance | Life Sciences | Manufacturing

Programming Tips

The PAUSE statement as a debugging tool in SAS/IML Studio

Rick WicklinNovember 13, 2017 0

A tip for debugging SAS/IML modules: The PAUSE statement

Debugging is the bane of every programmer. SAS supports a DATA step debugger, but that debugger can't be used for debugging SAS/IML programs. In lieu of a formal debugger, many SAS/IML programmers resort to inserting multiple PRINT statements into a function definition. However, there is an easier way to query

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Jim SimonNovember 10, 2017 0

Simple Proc Print trick for grouped data

Here's a Proc Print trick for grouped data. Suppose your data is divided into groups, such as males and females. You could sort by the grouping variable before printing, like this: Suppose you want to better emphasize the groups. You could add a BY statement, like this: OK, but, personally,

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeNovember 10, 2017 0

Spark grid

The 25th annual SESUG conference was held at in the SAS campus this week. I had the opportunity to meet and chat with many users and attend many excellent presentations. I will write about those that stood out (graphically) in my view. One excellent presentation was on "Methods for creating

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Banking | Energy & Utilities | Government | Health Care | Insurance | Life Sciences | Manufacturing | Retail

Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonNovember 10, 2017 0

When are the fall leaves at their peak?

One of the great things about living in an area that has seasons is you get to see the leaves change colors in the fall. If you're a big fan of seeing the leaves at their peak, you could actually travel around the country and see the leaves at their

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Data for Good | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonNovember 9, 2017 0

Graphing mistakes to avoid ... like the plague!

I recently saw an alarming article on social media about an outbreak of airborne plague spreading from Madagascar to Africa (and potentially to the rest of the world). The plague?!? - I thought that only happened hundreds of years ago?!? I don't really trust news on Facebook, so I went

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeNovember 8, 2017 0

Long category values

The South East SAS Users Group meeting wound up yesterday. The 25th anniversary conference was held on SAS Campus and it provided a great opportunity to meet with many enthusiastic SAS users and attend many informative presentations. More on this in a follow-up article. During one of these presentations, Mary

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Communications | Health Care | Hospitality | Life Sciences | Sports & Entertainment | Travel

Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinNovember 8, 2017 0

How to format rows of a table in SAS

A SAS programmer wanted to display a table in which the rows have different formats. An example is shown below. The programmer wanted columns that represent statistics and rows that represent variables. She wanted to display formats (such as DOLLAR) for some variables—but only for certain statistics. For example, the

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Natasha Ulanowski

Natasha UlanowskiNovember 6, 2017 0

SAS tips and tricks: Users-tell-all edition

There is certainly no shortage of terrific tips and tricks in various SAS blogs from some of our most distinguished SAS in-house experts. But, there's another group of equally qualified experts who don't often get to share their expertise on this channel: our customers. So, I went on a quest to get

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Programming Tips

Rick WicklinNovember 6, 2017 0

What is a factoid in SAS?

Have you ever seen the "Fit Summary" table from PROC LOESS, as shown to the right? Or maybe you've seen the "Model Information" table that is displayed by some SAS analytical procedures? These tables provide brief interesting facts about a statistical procedure, hence they are called factoids. In SAS, a

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Warren F. KuhfeldNovember 2, 2017 0

Advanced ODS Graphics: A deeper dive into documents, dynamics, and data objects

You can modify all of the components of the graphs that analytical procedures produce: the data object, graph template, and the dynamic variables. This post takes a closer look at dynamic variables (which you can see by using PROC DOCUMENT) and data objects and explores graphs that are constructed from more than one data object.

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Leonid BatkhanNovember 1, 2017 0

Hopping for the best - calculations across SAS dataset observations

The purpose of this blog post is to demonstrate a SAS coding technique that allows for calculations with multiple variables and multiple observations across a SAS dataset. This technique can be useful for working with time series, clinical trials, - in any data step calculations involving values from different observations.

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeNovember 1, 2017 0

Legend order redux

Once in a while you run into a pesky situation that is hard to overcome without resorting to major surgery. Such a situation occurs when you have a stacked bar chart with a discrete legend positioned vertically on the side of the graph. A simple example is shown below. title

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Banking | Education | Energy & Utilities | Government | Health Care | Hospitality | Insurance | Life Sciences | Manufacturing | Retail

Programming Tips

Rick WicklinNovember 1, 2017 0

Evaluate a function by using the function name in SAS/IML

A SAS/IML programmer asked whether you can pass the name of a function as an argument to a SAS/IML module and have the module call the function that is passed in. The answer is "yes." The basic idea is to create a string that represents the function call and then

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Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Charu ShankarOctober 31, 2017 0

3 freaky ways PROC FREQ can work in your favor

A ghoulish Halloween Boo to all my readers! Hope my costume freaks you out, but even if it doesn't, I’m positive PROC FREQ will in a few amazing ways! Today’s Programming 2: Data Manipulation Techniques class asked about the power of PROC FREQ. Since I stopped to explain some of it's benefits to

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeOctober 30, 2017 0

Fill patterns

When a plot is classified by one or more variables, the different classes values are displayed in the graph either by position or by using different plot attributes such as color, marker shape or line pattern. For plots that display the visual by a filled area (bar, bin, band, bubble,

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Government | Health Care | Insurance | Life Sciences

Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Rick WicklinOctober 30, 2017 0

A SAS programming technique to modify ODS templates

This article demonstrates a SAS programming technique that I call Kuhfeld's template modification technique. The technique enables you to dynamically modify an ODS template and immediately call the modified template to produce a new graph or table. By following the five steps in this article, you can implement the technique

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Data Visualization | Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Sanjay MatangeOctober 27, 2017 0

Legend items

Plot statements included in the graph definition can contribute to the legend(s). This can happen automatically, or can be customized using the KEYLEGEND statement. For plot statements that are classified by a group variable, all of the unique group values are displayed in the legend, along with their graphical representation

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Banking | Communications | Education | Energy & Utilities | Government | Health Care | Insurance | Life Sciences | Manufacturing | Retail

Advanced Analytics | Programming Tips

Ryan LolliOctober 26, 2017 0

Tip and tricks to promote CAS tables from session-scope to global-scope

When loading data into CAS using PROC CASUTIL, you have two choices on how the table can be loaded: session-scope or global-scope. This is controlled by the PROMOTE option in the PROC CASUTIL statement. Session-scope loaded proc casutil; load casdata="model_table.sas7bdat" incaslib="ryloll" outcaslib="otcaslib" casout="model_table”; run; Global-scope loaded proc casutil; load casdata="model_table.sas7bdat"

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Analytics | Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Robert AllisonOctober 26, 2017 0

Which country has the most powerful passport?

If you plan to travel abroad and see the world, you'll need a passport. And, depending on several factors, you might also need travel visas. Which passports allow you to travel with the least amount of hassle (and the least amounts of visas)? Let's create a map to help you

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Government | Travel

Learn SAS | Programming Tips

Jim SimonOctober 25, 2017 0

Finding your Dream Car with a little macro magic

Suppose you want a list of car manufacturers from the CARS dataset. Easy! Call the %CHARLIST macro from a %PUT statement, like this: The CHARLIST macro generates a list of unique values of a selected variable from a selected dataset. So does PROC FREQ. But, if you don't need statistics, the CHARLIST

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Data Visualization | Programming Tips

Warren F. KuhfeldOctober 25, 2017 0

Advanced ODS Graphics: Curve labels and date axes

Curve labels in series plots can be positioned inside or outside the graph. Date variables can be specified as TYPE=LINEAR with a date format or more commonly as TYPE=DATE. Sometimes external curve labels might appear below or above the graph, particularly with TYPE=DATE axes. This post shows you ways to move them to the right of the graph.

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