Cody’s Data Cleaning Techniques Using SAS® Software

Using PROC RANK to Look for Highest and Lowest Values by Percentage

There is a simpler and more efficient way to list the highest and lowest “n” percent of the data values, that is, by using PROC RANK. The reason that the previous, more complicated program was shown, is that it produces a slightly more accurate listing than the program shown in this section. PROC RANK is designed to produce a new variable (or replace the values of an existing variable) with values equal to the ranks of another variable. For example, if the variable X has values of 7, 3, 2, and 8, the equivalent ranks would be 3, 2, 1, and 4, respectively. However, PROC RANK has a very useful option (GROUPS=) that allows you to group your data values. For example, if you set ...