The DATASOURCE Procedure

Syntax: DATASOURCE Procedure

The DATASOURCE procedure uses the following statements:

PROC DATASOURCE options ;
KEEP variable-list ;
DROP variable-list ;
KEEPEVENT event-list ;
DROPEVENT event-list ;
WHERE where-expression ;
RANGE FROM from TO to ;
ATTRIBUTE variable-list attribute-list … ;
FORMAT variable-list format … ;
LABEL variable="label" … ;
LENGTH variable-list length … ;
RENAME old-name=new-name … ;

The PROC DATASOURCE statement is required. All the rest of the statements are optional.

The DATASOURCE procedure uses two kinds of statements, subsetting statements and attribute statements. Subsetting statements provide selection of time series data over selected time periods and cross sections from the input data file. Attribute statements control the attributes of the variables in the output SAS data set.

The subsetting statements are the KEEP, DROP, KEEPEVENT, and DROPEVENT statements (which select output variables); the RANGE statement (which selects time ranges); and the WHERE statement (which selects cross sections). The attribute statements are the ATTRIBUTE, FORMAT, LABEL, LENGTH, and RENAME statements.

The statements and options used by PROC DATASOURCE are summarized in Table 12.3.

Table 12.3: Summary of Syntax

Option	Description
Input Data File Options
FILETYPE=	type of input data file to read
INFILE=	fileref(s) of the input data
LRECL=	lrecl(s) of the input data
RECFM=	recfm(s) of the input data
ASCII	character set of the incoming data
EBCDIC	character set of the incoming data
Output Data Set Options
OUT=	write the extracted time series data
OUTALL=	information on time series and cross sections
OUTBY=	information on only cross sections
OUTCONT=	information on only time series variables
OUTEVENT=	write event-oriented data
OUTSELECT=	control reporting of all or only selected series and cross sections
INDEX	create single indexes from BY variables for the OUT= data set
ALIGN=	control the alignment of SAS date values
Subsetting Option and Statements
INTERVAL=	select periodicity of series to extract
KEEP	time series to include in the OUT= data set
DROP	time series to exclude from the OUT= data set
KEEPEVENT	events to include in the OUTEVENT= data set
DROPEVENT	events to exclude from the OUTEVENT= data set
WHERE	select cross sections for output
RANGE	time range of observations to be output
Assigning Attributes Options and Statements
FORMAT	assign formats to variables in the output data sets
ATTRIBUTE FORMAT=	assign formats to variables in the output data sets
LABEL	assign labels to variables in the output data sets
ATTRIBUTE LABEL=	assign labels to variables in the output data sets
LENGTH	control the lengths of variables in the output data sets
ATTRIBUTE LENGTH=	control the lengths of variables in the output data sets
RENAME	assign new names to variables in the output data sets