1.

What SAS statements would you code to read an external raw data file to a
DATA step?
2. How do you read in the variables that you need?
3. Are you familiar with special input delimiters? How are they used?
4. If reading a variable length file with fixed input, how would you prevent SAS
from reading the next record if the last variable didn’t have a value?
5. What is the difference between an informat and a format? Name three informats
or formats.
6. Name and describe three SAS functions that you have used, if any?
7. How would you code the criteria to restrict the output to be produced?
8. What is the purpose of the trailing @? The @@? How would you use them?
9. Under what circumstances would you code a SELECT construct instead of IF
statements?
10. What statement do you code to tell SAS that it is to write to an external file? What
statement do you code to write the record to the file?
11. If reading an external file to produce an external file, what is the shortcut to write
that record without coding every single variable on the record?
12. If you’re not wanting any SAS output from a data step, how would you code the
data statement to prevent SAS from producing a set?
13. What is the one statement to set the criteria of data that can be coded in any step?
14. Have you ever linked SAS code? If so, describe the link and any required
statements used to either process the code or the step itself.
15. How would you include common or reuse code to be processed along with your
statements?
16. When looking for data contained in a character string of 150 bytes, which
function is the best to locate that data: scan, index, or indexc?
17. If you have a data set that contains 100 variables, but you need only five of those,
what is the code to force SAS to use only those variable?
18. Code a PROC SORT on a data set containing State, District and County as the
primary variables, along with several numeric variables.
19. How would you delete duplicate observations?
20. How would you delete observations with duplicate keys?
21. How would you code a merge that will keep only the observations that have
matches from both sets.
22. How would you code a merge that will write the matches of both to one data set,
the non-matches from the left-most data set to a second data set, and the non-
matches of the right-most data set to a third data set.
23. What is the Program Data Vector (PDV)? What are its functions?
24. Does SAS ‘Translate’ (compile) or does it ‘Interpret’? Explain.
25. At compile time when a SAS data set is read, what items are created?
26. Name statements that are recognized at compile time only?
27. Identify statements whose placement in the DATA step is critical.
28. Name statements that function at both compile and execution time.
29. Name statements that are execution only.
30. In the flow of DATA step processing, what is the first action in a typical DATA
Step?
 31. What is _n_?

Posted in: Database, General |

41 Responses to SAS interview questions

1. Ruksana Says:
April 17th, 2005 at 2:33 pm

hi there,

i am a student learning SAS. i need answer for SAS questions which are listed on
your site.
plz forward me the answers. thanks in advance.

Ruksana

2. srijana Says:
August 21st, 2006 at 12:13 am

13. What is the one statement to set the criteria of data that can be coded in any
step?

3. Ravi Awari Says:

October 24th, 2006 at 8:07 am

13. What is the one statement to set the criteria of data that can be coded in any
step?

Ans) SET

4. Vinod Swarna Says:

November 8th, 2006 at 10:07 pm

What SAS statements would you code to read an external raw data file to a
DATA step?

Ans:
Data XXX;
infile ‘yyy’;
input …..;
run;

How do you read in the variables that you need?

Ans: drop and keep.

Are you familiar with special input delimiters? How are they used?

Ans: DSD dlm missover pad.

If reading a variable length file with fixed input, how would you prevent SAS
from reading the next record if the last variable didn’t have a value?

Ans: Missover

What is the difference between an informat and a format? Name three informats
or formats.

Ans: informat to read the date. Format to write the data. Informats: comma.
dollar. date.
Formats can be same as informats

Name and describe three SAS functions that you have used, if any?

mean()
date()
today()

How would you code the criteria to restrict the output to be produced?

Ans: noprint

What is the purpose of the trailing @? The @@? How would you use them?

Ans: @ hold the value past the data step.

@@ hold the value till a input statement or end of the line

Under what circumstances would you code a SELECT construct instead of IF

statements?

Ans: if there are many mutually exclusive conditions

What statement do you code to tell SAS that it is to write to an external file? What
statement do you code to write the record to the file?

Ans: data _null_

set xxx;
file ‘YYY’;
put vv ii nn oo dd;
run;
If reading an external file to produce an external file, what is the shortcut to write
that record without coding every single variable on the record?
If you’re not wanting any SAS output from a data step, how would you code the
data statement to prevent SAS from producing a set?

What is the one statement to set the criteria of data that can be coded in any step?
Ans: set
Have you ever linked SAS code? If so, describe the link and any required
statements used to either process the code or the step itself.
How would you include common or reuse code to be processed along with your
statements?
When looking for data contained in a character string of 150 bytes, which
function is the best to locate that data: scan, index, or indexc?
If you have a data set that contains 100 variables, but you need only five of those,
what is the code to force SAS to use only those variable?
Code a PROC SORT on a data set containing State, District and County as the
primary variables, along with several numeric variables.

How would you delete duplicate observations?

How would you delete observations with duplicate keys?

How would you code a merge that will keep only the observations that have
matches from both sets.
Ans: data xxx
merge yyy(in = inxxx) zzz (in = inzzz)
by aaa;
if inxxx = 1 and inyyy = 1;
run;

How would you code a merge that will write the matches of both to one data set,
the non-matches from the left-most data set to a second data set, and the non-
matches of the right-most data set to a third data set.

What is the Program Data Vector (PDV)? What are its functions?
Ans: To store the current obs;

Does SAS ‘Translate’ (compile) or does it ‘Interpret’? Explain.

Ans: compile.

At compile time when a SAS data set is read, what items are created?
Ans: Descriptor portion of the data set, PDV.

Name statements that are recognized at compile time only?

Ans: put
 Identify statements whose placement in the DATA step is critical.
Ans: Data, Run;

Name statements that function at both compile and execution time.

Ans:input

Name statements that are execution only.

In the flow of DATA step processing, what is the first action in a typical DATA
Step?
Ans: set the variables to missing.

What is _n_?
Ans: SAS variable to count the no of obs read.

5. Mohan Says:
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:12 am

If you have a data set that contains 100 variables, but you need only five of those,
what is the code to force SAS to use only those variable?

Ans: use the data step option OBS=5

Code a PROC SORT on a data set containing State, District and County as the
primary variables, along with several numeric variables.

Ans: PROC SORT

data= out= ;
BY Country State District;
RUN;

How would you delete duplicate observations?

Ans: use PROC SORT with the option NODUP

How would you delete observations with duplicate keys?

Ans: use PROC SORT with the option NODUPKEY

6. Mohan Says:
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:15 am

If you have a data set that contains 100 variables, but you need only five of those,
what is the code to force SAS to use only those variable?

Ans: Sorry, my apologies for the above answer for this question. The correct
answer is
 use KEEP= option in the SET statement of the DATA step

7. thiyagarajan Says:
December 20th, 2006 at 8:38 am

Hi All,

1)Can you please tell me the list of compile time statements?

2)I have 100 observations from that i want to create 5 datasets like
a1,a2,a3,a4,a5.Each data set should contain 20 observation each.For ex.a1 would
contain 1 to 20 obs and a2 would contain 21-40 like that…

waiting for your comments

8. Kishore Kumar.K Says:

December 26th, 2006 at 12:40 am

13. What is the one statement to set the criteria of data that can be coded in any
step?

Ans:- Options

9. srinivas.MP Says:
January 2nd, 2007 at 10:07 am

2)I have 100 observations from that i want to create 5 datasets like
a1,a2,a3,a4,a5.Each data set should contain 20 observation each.For ex.a1 would
contain 1 to 20 obs and a2 would contain 21-40 like that…
data a1 a2 a3 a4 a5;
set ;
if obs>=1 and =21 and =41 and =61 and

10. kavitha Says:

January 18th, 2007 at 11:21 am

hi
is the following code right for following question?

How would you code a merge that will write the matches of both to one data set,
the non-matches from the left-most data set to a second data set, and the non-
matches of the right-most data set to a third data set.

data one two three;

maerge a (in=ina) an b=(inb)
by xx;
if ina=1 and inb=1 then proc print data=one;
if ina=1 and inb=0 then proc print data=two;
 if ina=0 and inb=1 then proc print data = three;
run;

11. kavitha Says:

January 18th, 2007 at 11:31 am

I have 100 observations from that i want to create 5 datasets like

a1,a2,a3,a4,a5.Each data set should contain 20 observation each.For ex.a1 would
contain 1 to 20 obs and a2 would contain 21-40 like that…

let us say x is the data set that had all the 199 observations…

data a1 a2 a3 a4 a5;
set x;
if firstobs=1 and obs=20 then proc print data =a1;
if firstobs=21 and obs=40 then proc print data =a2;
if firstobs=41 and obs=60 then proc print data =a3;
if firstobs=61 and obs=80 then proc print data =a4;
if firstobs=81 and obs=100 then proc print data =a5;

run;

if you do not want the output in log file you do not have to use proc print

12. kavitha Says:

January 18th, 2007 at 11:38 am

At compile time when a SAS data set is read, what items are created?

1. input buffer
2. Program Data Vector (PDV)
3. Descriptor Information

13. kavitha Says:

January 18th, 2007 at 11:46 am

When looking for data contained in a character string of 150 bytes, which
function is the best to locate that data: scan, index, or indexc?

ans: Index will give you the position

14. kavitha Says:

January 19th, 2007 at 11:51 am

can anyone please tell me if there is a sas user group or discussion forum near
fairfax, va
15. Kishore Kumar.Kandikatla Says:
March 25th, 2007 at 2:14 pm

13. What is the one statement to set the criteria of data that can be coded in any
step?

Ans:- Options

16. Kishore Kumar.Kandikatla Says:

March 25th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

How do you read in the variables that you need?

Using input statement.

17. Arun Mathura.G said, Says:

April 3rd, 2007 at 6:48 am

I have 100 observations from that i want to create 5 datasets like

a1,a2,a3,a4,a5.Each data set should contain 20 observation each.For ex.a1 would
contain 1 to 20 obs and a2 would contain 21-40 like that…

Answer:
data a1 a2 a3 a4 a5;
set x;
if _N_ >=1 and _N_ =21 and _N_ =41 and _N_ =61 and _N_ =81 and _N_

18. hi Says:
April 4th, 2007 at 1:04 am

data a1 a2 a3;
set x;
if _n_ >=1 and _n_ =21 and _n_ =41 and _n_

19. SIVA Says:

April 10th, 2007 at 7:08 am

data a1 a2 a3 a4 a5;
set x;
select;
when (_n_ le 20) output a1;
when (20

20. siva Says:

April 10th, 2007 at 7:13 am

At compile time when a SAS data set is read, what items are created?
 While reading a SAS data set the input buffer will not be created. It will be
created only when the external data is read. So when a sas data set is read

PDV and the descriptor portion will only be created.

21. rao Says:

April 17th, 2007 at 9:49 pm

1) what is difference between SASV8.0 and SASV9.0?

2) u r creating Macro variable where we have to stored it?
3) what is difference between SAS debugging and Macro debugging?
4)what is the feature of SET statements?
5)what is the feature of merge statements?

22. Dharsha Says:

May 1st, 2007 at 8:51 am

How would you code a merge that will keep only the observations that have
matches from both sets.

Ans)
suppose their are two files difined. assume A & B,

based on key (ID) u need only matching form both the

datasets to be in another

Data infilea;
infile infilea;

input @1 id $char10.
@11 datafiled $char100.;
Proc Sort by id;

Data infileb;
infile infileb;

input @1 id $char10.
@11 datafiled $char100.;
Proc Sort by id;

Data_null_
Merger infilea(in=a) infileb (in=b) by id;

If A=B then
File Outfile;
Put @1 id Char10;
@11 Datafield $char100.
 End;

23. Kiran Says:

May 2nd, 2007 at 5:42 am

How would you code a merge that will write the matches of both to one data set,
the non-matches from the left-most data set to a second data set, and the non-
matches of the right-most data set to a third data set.

data one two three;

maerge a (in=ina) an b=(inb)
by xx;
if ina=1 and inb=1 then output one;
if ina=1 and inb=0 then output two;
if ina=0 and inb=1 then output three;
run;

24. Montacer Says:

May 3rd, 2007 at 7:09 am

I would like to estimate a Tobit model on panel data. PROC QLIM is supposed to
be the appropriate procedure. But did not find any details on how to tell PROC
QLIM that I am using panel data. Could you mind helping me please?

25. sannidhi Says:

May 14th, 2007 at 9:04 pm

hi
%let A= 3
%let B= 4
%let C= &A + &B
%let C= &C

What is the value of %Put statement?

Please give me the answer.

26. ravi Says:

May 21st, 2007 at 11:44 am

hi
%let A= 3
%let B= 4
%let C= &A + &B
%let C= &C
 What is the value of %Put statement?
Please give me the answer.
c=3+4

27. Paul Says:

May 25th, 2007 at 4:50 pm

Also firstobs and obs are dataset control options. Not execution time statements.
This code will never work.

A more feasible answer is to do this:

%*sets up a bogus datasource;
data x;
do i=1 to 100;
xx=’Your Data’;
end;
run;

%*accomplishes the task;

data a1 a2 a3 a4 a5;
set x;
cnt+1; put cnt=;
if 0kavitha said,
I have 100 observations from that i want to create 5 datasets like
a1,a2,a3,a4,a5.Each data set should contain 20 observation each.For ex.a1 would
contain 1 to 20 obs and a2 would contain 21-40 like that…

let us say x is the data set that had all the 199 observations…

data a1 a2 a3 a4 a5;
set x;
if firstobs=1 and obs=20 then proc print data =a1;
if firstobs=21 and obs=40 then proc print data =a2;
if firstobs=41 and obs=60 then proc print data =a3;
if firstobs=61 and obs=80 then proc print data =a4;
if firstobs=81 and obs=100 then proc print data =a5;

run;

if you do not want the output in log file you do not have to use proc print

28. Paul Says:

May 25th, 2007 at 4:51 pm

%*accomplishes the task;

data a1 a2 a3 a4 a5;
set x;
 cnt+1; put cnt=;
if 0

29. bharath Says:

July 16th, 2007 at 12:57 am

hi,
these is bharath,iam learning sas will anyone give me the answers for these
quetions .plz forward me
1.name statments that functions at both compile & execution time ?
2.name statments that are execution only ?
3.what is the difference between var A1-A4 &varA1–A4?
4.wat is the order of evaluation of the comparison operators : + - */** () ?
5.wat is the significance of the ‘OF’ in x= sum (OF a1-a4,a6,a9); ?

30. kishore kumar kandikatla Says:

July 28th, 2007 at 2:21 pm

Hi rao here are my comments:

1) what is difference between SASV8.0 and SASV9.0?

ans:- u can take this as one: SASv9 (x)…more improved version from sas with
respect to BI tools and with many advanced features.
SASv8.0:- limited features not that much concentrated on BI tools.

2) u r creating Macro variable where we have to stored it?

ans: it depends on you, if u want to make them as reusable components u can save
them in one pertucular location and u can call them by using %include.

3) what is difference between SAS debugging and Macro debugging?

ANS: debugging is debuggin. no idea.

4)what is the feature of SET statements?

ans: you can apply transformations and u can even load the data.
one importance: its a technique to improve the efficiency of sas programs.

5)what is the feature of merge statements?

One simple answer is u can perform all types of joins.

31. nvv Says:

August 14th, 2007 at 7:18 am

How would you code a merge that will write the matches of both to one data set,
the non-matches from the left-most data set to a second data set, and the non-
matches of the right-most data set to a third data set.

THIS NOT WORKING GUYS… PLZ CHECK IT

 filename x ‘C:\Documents and Settings\vinayak\Desktop\v.txt’;

data a1 a2 ;
infile x;
if firstobs=1 and obs=20 then proc print data=a1;
if firstobs=21 and obs=40 then proc print data=a2;
run;
proc print data=a1 a2;
run;

32. Gopi Says:

August 19th, 2007 at 9:15 am

Hi All,
Can anyone explain about:
Proc LIFETEST and Proc GLM

33. madhu Says:

September 21st, 2007 at 8:26 am

Q:what is the difference between dsd and missover?

Q:with out data set name create data set ? it is possible?

34. AKA Says:

December 11th, 2007 at 6:10 pm

Q:what is the difference between dsd and missover?

missover prevents a sas program from going to a new input line if it doesnot find
values in the current line for all the input variables.
Q:with out data set name create data set ? it is possible?
data _NULL_;

35. AKA Says:

December 11th, 2007 at 6:55 pm

# How does SAS handle missing values in: assignment statements, functions, a
merge, an update, sort order, formats, PROCs?
# How many missing values are available? When might you use them?
# How do you test for missing values?
# How are numeric and character missing values represented internally?

36. AKA Says:

December 11th, 2007 at 6:56 pm

# How do you make use of functions?

# When looking for contained in a character string of 150 bytes, which function is
the best to locate that data: scan, index, or indexc?
 # What is the significance of the ‘OF’ in X=SUM(OF a1-a4, a6, a9);?
# What do the PUT and INPUT functions do?
# Which date function advances a date, time or date/time value by a given
interval?
# What do the MOD and INT function do?
# How might you use MOD and INT on numerics to mimic SUBSTR on character
strings?
# In ARRAY processing, what does the DIM function do?
# How would you determine the number of missing or nonmissing values in
computations?
# What is the difference between: x=a+b+c+d; and x=SUM(a,b,c,d);?
# There is a field containing a date. It needs to be displayed in the format
“ddmonyy” if it’s before 1975, “dd mon ccyy” if it’s after 1985, and as ‘Disco
Years’ if it’s between 1975 and 1985. How would you accomplish this in data
step code? Using only PROC FORMAT.
# In the following DATA step, what is needed for ‘fraction’ to print to the log?
data _null_; x=1/3; if x=.3333 then put ‘fraction’; run;
# What is the difference between calculating the ‘mean’ using the mean function
and PROC MEANS?

37. Gowri Says:

January 10th, 2008 at 2:55 am

When looking for contained in a character string of 150 bytes, which function is
the best to locate that data: scan, index, or indexc?
Ans: INDEX function. Scan just sub strings the data and INDEXC looks for one
char.

# What is the significance of the ‘OF’ in X=SUM(OF a1-a4, a6, a9);?

Ans: Without OF this will be sonsidered as subtraction. I mean a4 will be

subtracted from a1.

# What do the PUT and INPUT functions do?

Ans: PUT converts Numeric to character and INPUT converts Character to

Numeric explicitly

Which date function advances a date, time or date/time value by a given interval?

Ans: INTNX

In the following DATA step, what is needed for ‘fraction’ to print to the log? data
_null_; x=1/3; if x=.3333 then put ‘fraction’; run;

Ans: FRACTw. format cna be used to accomplish this

38. David Says:
May 1st, 2008 at 10:26 pm

1.What SAS statements would you code to read an external raw data file to a
DATA step?
Answer: INFILE statement is used to read the external raw data fiel to a Data
Step.

2. How do you read in the variables that you need?

Answer: List the variable names after INPUT statement.

3. Are you familiar with special input delimiters? How are they used?
Answer: Yes, Using INPUT statement and DLM=option and DSD optin to read
delimited file.

4. If reading a variable length file with fixed input, how would you prevent SAS
from reading the next record if the last variable didn’t have a value?
Answer: Using MISSOVER option in INFILE statement.

5. What is the difference between an informat and a format? Name three

informats or formats.
Answer: Informat gives SAS special instruction for reading a variable, and
Format gives SAS special instruction for writing a variable.
For example: DATEw. w. w.d

6. Name and describe three SAS functions that you have used, if any?
Answer: DAY(date) Today() SUBSTR(ARG,POSITION,N)SUM()

7. How would you code the criteria to restrict the output to be produced?
Answer: Using WHERE statement

8. What is the purpose of the trailing @? The @@? How would you use them?
Answer: Both are line hold specifiers, the difference is how long they hold a line
for input, The trailing@ is used to hold the line of the raw data for subsequent
INPUT statements, but releases that line when SAS returns to the top of DATA
step, the trailing @@ will hold the line even when SAS starts build a new
obsrvation.

9. Under what circumstances would you code a SELECT construct instead of IF

statements?
Answer:

10. What statement do you code to tell SAS that it is to write to an external file?
Answer: Using _null_ statement
 11. What statement do you code to write the record to the file?
Answer: Using FILE and PUT statements

12. If reading an external file to produce an external file, what is the shortcut to
write that record without coding every single variable on the record?
Answer: Using EXPORT procedure

13. If you’re not wanting any SAS output from a data step, how would you code
the data statement to prevent SAS from producing a set?
Answer: _NULL_

14. What is the one statement to set the criteria of data that can be coded in any
step?
Answer: Where statement

15. Have you ever linked SAS code? If so, describe the link and any required
statements used to either process the code or the step itself.

16. How would you include common or reuse code to be processed along with
your statements?
MICRO

39. jyotsna.G Says:

June 25th, 2008 at 5:15 am

1.what is the difference between dsd and missover?

2.Give some information about _IOSC_ ?
3.What is the role of _n_ and _null_ ?

40. ajay sinha Says:

June 27th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

1)What SAS statements would you code to read an external raw data file to a
DATA step?
ans)infile statement

2)How do you read in the variables that you need?

ans)use var
like proc print data=er;
var num;
run;

3)Are you familiar with special input delimiters? How are they used?
ans)yes . dlm=’,'; or dlm=’ ‘;etc

4)If reading a variable length file with fixed input, how would you prevent SAS
from reading the next record if the last variable didn’t have a value?
ans)use specific length or format
like input num 9. char $5.;

5)What is the difference between an informat and a format? Name three informats
or formats.
ans)informat is used to print the data from the dataset by ommitng some values
whereas format reads a data differntly then what is actually stored in the dataset
by adding our own values.
date, ddmmyy and worddate

6)Name and describe three SAS functions that you have used, if any?
ans)a=sum(a,b,c);
s=log(a);
d=lag(a);

7)How would you code the criteria to restrict the output to be produced?
ans) use format

8)What is the purpose of the trailing @? The @@? How would you use them?
ans)@ is coulmn pointer to get the specific value while @@ is used if variables
are less and value are more and u want to read each value

input @ ‘content:’ a 9. b 5.;

input a b c @@;

9)Under what circumstances would you code a SELECT construct instead of IF

statements?
ans) when u want to use a group

10)What statement do you code to tell SAS that it is to write to an external file?
ans)ods or datafile

11)What statement do you code to write the record to the file?

ans)dde

12)If reading an external file to produce an external file, what is the shortcut to
write that record without coding every single variable on the record?
ans)dde and ods

13)If you’re not wanting any SAS output from a data step, how would you code
the data statement to prevent SAS from producing a set?
ans) data _null_;

14)What is the one statement to set the criteria of data that can be coded in any
step?
ans)set
15)Have you ever linked SAS code? If so, describe the link and any required
statements used to either process the code or the step itself.
ans)use macro

16)How would you include common or reuse code to be processed along with
your statements?
ans)using format

17)When looking for data contained in a character string of 150 bytes, which
function is the best to locate that data: scan, index, or indexc?
ans)scan

18)If you have a data set that contains 100 variables, but you need only five of
those, what is the code to force SAS to use only those variable?
ans)in input statement use only those variables name which u want.

19)Code a PROC SORT on a data set containing State, District and County as the
primary variables, along with several numeric variables.
ans)proc sort data=q;
by state;
run;
similarly other statements

20)How would you delete duplicate observations?

ans)using dupkey

21)How would you code a merge that will keep only the observations that have
matches from both sets.
ans)usning merge and dupkey

22)How would you code a merge that will write the matches of both to one data
set, the non-matches from the left-most data set to a second data set, and the non-
matches of the right-most data set to a third data set.
ans)merge , dupkey and nodupkey

23)What is the Program Data Vector (PDV)? What are its functions?
ans)memory that sas creates while running the sas program in compilation stage is
called PDV,

24)Does SAS ‘Translate’ (compile) or does it ‘Interpret’? Explain.

ans)compile with creating PDV

25)At compile time when a SAS data set is read, what items are created?
ans)variables
 26)Name statements that are recognized at compile time only?
ans)data

27)Identify statements whose placement in the DATA step is critical.

ans)run;

28)Name statements that function at both compile and execution time.

ans)run;

29)Name statements that are execution only.

ans)proc;

30)In the flow of DATA step processing, what is the first action in a typical
DATA Step?
ans)creating the name of dataset.

31)What is _n_?
ans)new line

41. San Says:

August 4th, 2008 at 3:32 am

I have mentioned the correct answer for some Q. David and Ajay has already
mentioned the correct answer for the other Qs.

4)If reading a variable length file with fixed input, how would you prevent SAS
from reading the next record if the last variable didn’t have a value?
Use MISSOVER while the file is read
INFILE datalines MISSOVER;

5)What is the difference between an informat and a format? Name three informats
or formats.
Format is used to print the output in the desired format
e.g., date9. comma9. DDMMYY10.
Informat is used with the input file which helps to read the data in the desired
format to use it inside the program for valuation
INFORMATs can be used with the INPUT() function, and FORMAT with the
PUT() function.

8)What is the purpose of the trailing @? The @@? How would you use them?
SAS provides two line-hold specifiers.

The trailing at sign (@) holds the input record for the execution of the next
INPUT statement.
The double trailing at sign (@@) holds the input record for the execution of the
next INPUT statement, even across iterations of the DATA step.
input Name $20. @; or input Name $20. @@;

9)Under what circumstances would you code a SELECT construct instead of IF

statements?
When you have a long series of mutually exclusive conditions and the comparison
is numeric, using a SELECT group is slightly more efficient than using a series of
IF-THEN or IF-THEN/ELSE statements because CPU time is reduced. SELECT
groups also make the program easier to read and debug.

10)What statement do you code to tell SAS that it is to write to an external file?
Using FILE statement we can write the data from the external file. INFILE for
reading the data from the external file

11)What statement do you code to write the record to the file?

Using PUT statement or OUTPUT statement

18)If you have a data set that contains 100 variables, but you need only five of
those, what is the code to force SAS to use only those variable?
List Input

19)Code a PROC SORT on a data set containing State, District and County as the
primary variables, along with several numeric variables.
proc sort data=q;
by state District County;
run;

31)What is _n_?
No of times the data step executed