SAS Certification Prep Guide, 4th Edition

Validating Query Syntax

Overview

When you are building a PROC SQL query, you might find it more efficient to check your query without actually executing it. To verify the syntax and the existence of columns and tables that are referenced in the query without executing the query, use either of the following:

• the NOEXEC option in the PROC SQL statement
• the VALIDATE keyword before a SELECT statement.

Consider how you specify the NOEXEC option and the VALIDATE keyword, and examine the minor differences between them.

Using the NOEXEC Option

The NOEXEC option is specified in the following PROC SQL statement:

proc sql noexec;
   select empid, jobcode, salary
      from sasuser.payrollmaster
      where jobcode contains 'NA'
      order by salary;

If ...