SAS 9.4 SQL Procedure User's Guide, Fourth Edition, 4th Edition

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Syntax Conventions for the SAS Language

Overview of Syntax Conventions for the SAS Language

SAS uses standard conventions in the documentation of syntax for SAS language

elements. These conventions enable you to easily identify the components of SAS

syntax. The conventions can be divided into these parts:

• syntax components

• style conventions

• special characters

• references to SAS libraries and external files

Syntax Components

The components of the syntax for most language elements include a keyword and

arguments. For some language elements, only a keyword is necessary. For other

language elements, the keyword is followed by an equal sign (=). The syntax for

arguments has multiple forms in order to demonstrate the syntax of multiple arguments,

with and without punctuation.

keyword

specifies the name of the SAS language element that you use when you write your

program. Keyword is a literal that is usually the first word in the syntax. In a CALL

routine, the first two words are keywords.

In these examples of SAS syntax, the keywords are bold:

CHAR (string, position)

CALL RANBIN (seed, n, p, x);

ALTER (alter-password)

BEST w.

REMOVE <data-set-name>

In this example, the first two words of the CALL routine are the keywords:

CALL RANBIN(seed, n, p, x)

The syntax of some SAS statements consists of a single keyword without arguments:

DO;

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... SAS code ...

END;

Some system options require that one of two keyword values be specified:

DUPLEX | NODUPLEX

Some procedure statements have multiple keywords throughout the statement syntax:

CREATE <UNIQUE> INDEX index-name ON table-name (column-1 <,

column-2, …>)

argument

specifies a numeric or character constant, variable, or expression. Arguments follow

the keyword or an equal sign after the keyword. The arguments are used by SAS to

process the language element. Arguments can be required or optional. In the syntax,

optional arguments are enclosed in angle brackets ( < > ).

In this example, string and position follow the keyword CHAR. These arguments are

required arguments for the CHAR function:

CHAR (string, position)

Each argument has a value. In this example of SAS code, the argument string has a

value of 'summer', and the argument position has a value of 4:

x=char('summer', 4);

In this example, string and substring are required arguments, whereas modifiers and

startpos are optional.

FIND(string, substring <, modifiers> <, startpos>

argument(s)

specifies that one argument is required and that multiple arguments are allowed.

Separate arguments with a space. Punctuation, such as a comma ( , ) is not required

between arguments.

The MISSING statement is an example of this form of multiple arguments:

MISSING character(s);

<LITERAL_ARGUMENT> argument-1 <<LITERAL_ARGUMENT> argument-2 ... >

specifies that one argument is required and that a literal argument can be associated

with the argument. You can specify multiple literals and argument pairs. No

punctuation is required between the literal and argument pairs. The ellipsis (...)

indicates that additional literals and arguments are allowed.

The BY statement is an example of this argument:

BY <DESCENDING> variable-1 <<DESCENDING> variable-2 …>;

argument-1 <option(s)> <argument-2 <option(s)> ...>

specifies that one argument is required and that one or more options can be

associated with the argument. You can specify multiple arguments and associated

options. No punctuation is required between the argument and the option. The

ellipsis (...) indicates that additional arguments with an associated option are

allowed.

The FORMAT procedure PICTURE statement is an example of this form of multiple

arguments:

PICTURE name <(format-option(s))>

<value-range-set-1 <(picture-1-option(s))>

<value-range-set-2 <(picture-2-option(s))> …>>;

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