SAS 9.4 Language Reference, 6th Edition

Output 4.2 Character Variable Alignment in SAS HTML Output

Reordering Variables in SAS Output

You can control the order in which variables are displayed in SAS output by using the

following declarative statements:

• ARRAY

• ATTRIB

• FORMAT

• INFORMAT

• LENGTH

• RETAIN

For any of these statements to work, they must be placed prior to any one of the

following declarative statements:

• SET

• MERGE

• UPDATE

Only the variables whose positions are relevant need to be listed. Variables not listed in

these statements retain their original position. For example, if data set Sashelp.Class has

variables Name, Sex, Age, Height, and Weight (in that order), then you can move the

variable Height to the first position by specifying the LENGTH statement as shown in

the following example:

Example Code 4.1 Using the LENGTH Statement to Reorder Variables

data Class1;

length Height 3; /* The LENGTH statement precedes the SET statement */

set Sashelp.Class; /* and causes the variable Height to be placed first */

run; /* in the output */

proc print data=Class1;

run;

Reordering Variables in SAS Output 47