Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables

2 Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables Louise S. Hadden Abt Associates Inc. Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables Louise S. Hadden Abt Associates Inc. Introduction Resources within SAS® to Obtain Metadata SAS® provides a wealth of resources for users to create useful, attractive metadata tables, including PROC CONTENTS listing output (to ODS destinations), the PROC CONTENTS OUT= SAS data set, and PROC CONTENTS ODS Output Objects. This paper and presentation explore some additional and less well-known resources to obtain metadata on SAS sessions such as %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables. All these options in conjunction with the use of SAS ODS tagsets, datasets and procedures enable the creation of user friendly documentation and programming tools. Each new SAS session opens the door to a wealth of valuable metadata on data sets, SAS catalogs, directories, users, systems, SAS versions, and even the session itself. Follow me through the wormhole… %SYSFUNC (or %QSYSFUNC) is a macro function that allows you to access SAS language functions regardless of the system environment you are operating in. For example, %IF %SYSFUNC(EXIST(infi) ) %THEN %DO;... %END; sets up conditional processing based on infi’s existence. met·a·da·ta ˈ medə ˌ dādə, ˈ medə ˌ dadə/ noun a set of data that describes and gives information about other data. PROC DATASETS does all that PROC CONTENTS does, and much, much more. For example, PROC DATASETS LIBRARY=YOURLIB NOLIST NODETAILS; CONTENTS DATA=_ALL_ OUT=YOURDS NOPRINT NODETAILS DIRECTORY; provides a single contents listing of all files in a library. SAS dictionary tables and SASHELP views allow access to all the information SAS collects about a SAS session. For example, PROC SQL; SELECT NAME, MEMNAME, TYPE, LENGTH FROM DICTIONARY.COLUMNS WHERE LIBNAME=‘YOURLIB’ AND NAME CONTAINS ‘ID’; QUIT; lists all datasets in a library that have a variable called ID.

3 Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables Louise S. Hadden Abt Associates Inc. Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables Louise S. Hadden Abt Associates Inc. %SYSFUNC and PROC DATASETS Although %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, Dictionary Tables, SASHELP Views and V functions are very powerful, many faceted tools about which many papers are written, it is the intent of this paper to describe how to get metadata for data dictionaries and codebooks, and to facilitate the processing of data – in other words, how to get to know thy data. It is a credit to SAS that we have so many options. It is also worth noting that all these options draw on the same SAS metadata – all the information is at our fingertips any time we invoke a SAS session, disappearing when we exit a SAS session. Selected SAS® functions that can be used with %SYSFUNC: Verify existence of a file; open a file; get information about a file, delete a file, close a file, read a host- specific option. Example 1: Find the number of observations in a data set Example 1: Find the number of observations in a data set Example 2: Create an output data set of the contents of many datasets Example 2: Create an output data set of the contents of many datasets /* find the number of observations in a data set */ %LET dsexist=%SYSFUNC(EXIST(sashelp.zipcode)); % LET sasdsname=sashelp.zipcode; % LET dsid=%SYSFUNC (OPEN(&sasdsname)); % LET numobs=%SYSFUNC(ATTRN(&dsid,NOBS)); % LET rc=%SYSFUNC (CLOSE(&dsid)); /* put the number of observations in the log */ %PUT The # of observations in &sasdsname is &numobs; In the log: The # of observations in sashelp.zipcode is /* generate a contents listing of all data sets in SASHELP */ PROC DATASETS LIBRARY=SASHELP NOLIST; CONTENTS DATA=_ALL_ OUT=LIB.SASHELP_DS_METADATA (KEEP=LIBNAME MEMNAME NAME TYPE LENGTH LABEL FORMAT NOBS COMPRESS SORTED IDXUSAGE CRDATE MODATE) NOPRINT DIRECTORY; RUN; /* Add a data set label */ PROC DATASETS LIBRARY=LIB; MODIFY SASHELP_DS_METADATA (LABEL="Metadata for all SAS data sets in SASHELP"); CONTENTS DATA=SASHELP_DS_METADATA; RUN: QUIT; Snippet of PROC DATASETS CONTENTS listing Snippet of test print of created metadata data set

4 Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables Louise S. Hadden Abt Associates Inc. Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables Louise S. Hadden Abt Associates Inc. DICTIONARY TABLES / SASHELP VIEWS / “V” FUNCTIONS SAS® provides a lot of useful metadata, but it is up to us to do our part. We can greatly enhance our data dictionaries and codebooks by using SAS tools to describe our data, our files, our SAS catalogs and entries, our systems, and users. Example 2 shows how to use PROC DATASETS to modify a data set by adding a descriptive label. You can use %SYSFUNC to add system and user information, processing dates, program names, etc. to labels and descriptions. You can use PROC CATALOG to add information to SAS catalog entries – and all this can be reported on. Example 3: Find a variable in multiple data sets Example 3: Find a variable in multiple data sets Example 4: Create a codebook data set from SASHELP views Example 4: Create a codebook data set from SASHELP views Example 5: Using V functions to obtain metadata Example 5: Using V functions to obtain metadata PROC SQL; CREATE TABLE LIB.SASHELP_ZIPCODE_CDBK AS SELECT NAME, TYPE, LENGTH, FORMAT, VARNUM, IDXUSAGE, SORTEDBY, LABEL FROM SASHELP.VCOLUMN WHERE LIBNAME='SASHELP' AND MEMNAME='ZIPCODE'; QUIT; PROC PRINT DATA=LIB.SASHELP_ZIPCODE_CDBK (OBS=10) NOOBS; RUN; PROC SQL; TITLE1 'ALL DATA SETS IN SASHELP WITH A VARIABLE NAMED ZIP'; SELECT LIBNAME, MEMNAME, NAME FROM DICTIONARY.COLUMNS WHERE NAME='ZIP' and libname='SASHELP'; QUIT; DATA dateformattest; LENGTH srvy_dt_type... $ 1 srvy_dt_fmt...$ 32; SET defs.alltexts_indx ; IF _n_=1; srvy_dt_type=VTYPE(srvy_dt);... srvy_dt_fmt=VFORMAT(srvy_dt);... RUN; Output from PROC SQL Output from PROC PRINT – Example 4 Output from PROC PRINT – Example 5

5 Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables Louise S. Hadden Abt Associates Inc. Better Metadata Through SAS® II: %SYSFUNC, PROC DATASETS, and Dictionary Tables Louise S. Hadden Abt Associates Inc. Conclusion References Acknowledgements SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Your comments and questions are valued and encouraged. Contact the author at: Name: Louise Hadden Carey, Helen and Carey, Ginger, “Tips and Techniques for the SAS Programmer!” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Crawford, Peter, “A Day in the Life of Data – Part 3.” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Fraeman, Kathy Hardis, “Get into the Groove with %SYSFUNC: Generalizing SAS® Macros with Conditionally Executed Code.” Proceedings of NESUG Hadden, Louise, “Build your Metadata with PROC CONTENTS and ODS OUTPUT”, Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Huang, Chao, “Top 10 SQL Tricks in SAS®.” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Karafa, Matthew T., “Macro Coding Tips and Tricks to Avoid “PEBCAK” Errors.” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Kuligowski, Andrew T. and Shankar, Charu, “Know Thy Data: Techniques for Data Exploration.” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Lafler, Kirk Paul, “Powerful and Hard-to-find PROC SQL Features.” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Murphy, William C., “What’s in a SAS® Variable? Get Answers with a V!” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Raithel, Michael A., “PROC DATASETS: the Swiss Army Knife of SAS® Procedures.” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Thornton, Patrick, “SAS® DICTIONARY: Step by Step.” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum Zhang, Jingxian, “Techniques for Generating Dynamic Code from SAS® Dictionary Tables.” Proceedings of SAS Global Forum If you are looking to find SAS metadata, there’s more than one way to skin a cat! Take advantage of the master procedure PROC DATASETS (as well as PROC CONTENTS), SAS Dictionary Tables and SASHELP.VIEWS, and information gleaned from using the powerful %SYSFUNC to create user documentation, generate SAS code, perform conditional processing and GET INPUT! The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful work of Kathy Fraeman, Michael Raithel, Patrick Thornton and Kirk Paul Lafler, among others.