What’s New in SAS 9.4 DATA Step Statements

• Overview
• Enhanced SAS DATA Step Statements

Overview

This document supports DATA step statements for SAS 9.4 and SAS Viya.

A highlighted, abbreviated notation of the SAS version and maintenance release specifies when a feature was added to SAS. For example, SAS 9.4M6 indicates that a feature was added during the sixth maintenance release of SAS 9.4.

Beginning in SAS Viya 3.5, the DESCENDING option is supported in a DATA step that runs in CAS. When running in CAS, the DESCENDING option cannot be used on the first variable in the BY statement.

In the May 2019 release of SAS 9.4M6 and SAS Viya 3.4, the STATUS option is now documented for the INFILE statement.

These are the new and enhanced features for SAS 9.4M6:

• The WHERE statement can be specified in a DATA step that is running in CAS.
• You can enable the LIST statement to write log data in hexadecimal format using the HEXLISTALL argument in the DATA statement.

In SAS Viya 3.4, these statement options are now documented:

• The MEMVAR option is documented for the INFILE and FILE statements.
• The RESET option is documented for the INFILE statement.

Beginning in SAS 9.4M5, global statements are available in the new SAS Global Statements: Reference.

New and enhanced features enable you to perform these tasks:

• create and name a variable that contains the observation number that was just read from the data set
• control whether a KEY= search should begin at the top of the index for the data set that is being read

Enhanced SAS DATA Step Statements

In SAS Viya 3.5, the SAS DATA step statement is enhanced:

BY

• The DESCENDING option in the BY statement is now supported for a DATA step that is running in CAS. The option is supported only for the second and subsequent variables in a CAS DATA step and not for the first variable in a BY statement. See SAS Cloud Analytic Services: DATA Step Programming

In SAS Viya 3.4, these SAS DATA step statements are enhanced:

FILE

• The MEMVAR option specifies a file to open. When the value of the MEMVAR= variable changes, the current file is closed and the new file is opened.

INFILE

• The MEMVAR option enables you to open the individual files contained in a directory or contained in a directory-based file such as a ZIP file.
• The RESET option specifies whether to close the current input file and open a new file, or close and reopen the current input file.

In SAS 9.4, these SAS DATA step statements have been enhanced:

INFILE

• SAS automatically normalizes imported copies of files that are created in Windows that are being read by SAS when you are running your session in UNIX. This enables easier sharing of files between the environments.

MODIFY

• A new option, CUROBS, creates and names a variable that contains the observation number that was just read from the data set.
• A new option, KEYRESET, controls whether a KEY= search should begin at the top of the index for the data set that is being read. When the value of the KEYRESET variable is 1, the index lookup begins at the top of the index. When the value of the KEYRESET variable is 0, the index lookup is not reset and the lookup continues where the prior lookup ended.

SET

• A new option, CUROBS, creates and names a variable that contains the observation number that was just read from the data set.
• A new option, KEYRESET, controls whether a KEY= search should begin at the top of the index for the data set that is being read. When the value of the KEYRESET variable is 1, the index lookup begins at the top of the index. When the value of the KEYRESET variable is 0, the index lookup is not reset and the lookup continues where the prior lookup ended.