Working with SAS Data Sets

Display SAS Data Set Information

You can use the SHOW statement to display information about your SAS data sets. The SHOW DATASETS statement lists all open SAS data sets and their status. The SHOW CONTENTS statement displays the variable names and types, the size, and the number of observations in the current input data set. For example, the following statements display information about the Sashelp.Class data set: 

use Sashelp.Class;
show datasets;

Figure 7.3: Open Data Sets

LIBNAME  MEMNAME                          OPEN MODE   STATUS                    
-------- -------------------------------- ---------   --------                  
SASHELP  CLASS                            Input       Current Input             
                                                                                





            

            


            
As shown in Figure 7.3, Sashelp.Class is the only data set that is open. The USE statement opens the data set for input and makes it the current input data set.
               
            

            
You can see the names of variables, their lengths, and whether they are numeric or character by using the SHOW CONTENTS statement,
               as follows: 
            


show contents;



  

            


Figure 7.4: Variable Names and Types

               

                  

                     
                     

                        
                        
                        

                           
                           

                              
                              


                                       
DATASET : SASHELP.CLASS.DATA                                                    
LABEL   : Student Data                                                          
                                                                                
 VARIABLE                          TYPE  SIZE                                   
 --------------------------------  ----  ----                                   
 Name                              char     8                                   
 Sex                               char     1                                   
 Age                               num      8                                   
 Height                            num      8                                   
 Weight                            num      8                                   
                                                                                
Number of Variables   : 5                                                       
Number of Observations: 19                                                      
                                                                                



                                 



                           
                        

                        



                     
                     
                  





            

            


            
The five variables are shown in Figure 7.4. Name and Sex are character variables; Age, Height, and Weight are numeric variables. The variable Sex has length 1, which means that each observation contains a single character.