After completing this course, the student should be able to:
 

	Use various input styles to create SAS data sets
	Read different types of external data files
	Combine SAS data sets by concatenating, interleaving and merging
	Update SAS data sets
	Retrieve data with the SQL procedure
	Create and modify SQL tables

Input Styles
Demonstrates the various input styles used with the INPUT statement.
 

List Input

List and modified list input styles.
 

Other Input Styles

Column, formatted, named and mixed input styles.

Reading External Files
Shows how to use the INPUT and INFILE statements to handle external files with various file structures and record layouts.
 

Multiple Records Per Observation

Reading multiple records to construct each SAS observation.  Multiple INPUT statements and line-pointer controls.
 

Multiple Reads Per Record

Multiple observations per record.  Different types of raw data.  Reading only a portion of the data.  Line-hold specifiers.
 

INFILE Statement Options

FIRSTOBS, OBS, DELIMITER, STOPOVER and MISSOVER options.
 

4th Generation Languages

Manipulating SAS Data Sets
Presents various methods for combining and updating existing SAS data sets.
 

Concatenating with SET

Using the SET statement to combine SAS data sets.
 

Concatenating with APPEND

Using PROC APPEND to combine SAS data sets.  Comparison of SET and APPEND.
 

Interleaving

Using the SET statement with a BY statement to combine sorted data sets into one sorted data set.
 

Merging

Using the MERGE statement to combine observations from two or more data sets into one observation in a new data set.
 

Updating

Using the UPDATE statement to modify the values of variables in SAS data sets. Aging master data sets.
 

Other Techniques

Reading a data set twice in the same DATA step.  Determining the source of an observation.  Combining portions of data sets.  Reading only specified observations.

The SQL Procedure
Describes how to use the SAS System's SQL procedure to query data.  Shows how to create and modify PROC SQL tables.
 

Introduction to SQL

Definition and overview of the SQL procedure.  Using the SELECT statement to retrieve and display data from a single table.
 

SQL Joins

Using the SELECT statement to query multiple tables.
 

Creating Tables and Views

Using the CREATE statement to create tables, views and indexes.  
 

Modifying Tables

Using the ALTER, UPDATE, INSERT and DELETE statements to change the structure of a table and also the data in it.