SAS 9.4 Language Reference, 3rd Edition

data one;

array state{*} &list;

… more SAS statements …

run;

data two;

array state{*} &list;

… more SAS statements …

run;

Variations on Basic Array Processing

Determining the Number of Elements in an Array Efficiently

The DIM function in the iterative DO statement returns the number of elements in a one-

dimensional array or the number of elements in a specified dimension of a

multidimensional array, when the lower bound of the dimension is 1. Use the DIM

function to avoid changing the upper bound of an iterative DO group each time you

change the number of elements in the array.

The form of the DIM function is as follows:

DIMn(array-name)

where n is the specified dimension that has a default value of 1.

You can also use the DIM function when you specify the number of elements in the

array with an asterisk. Here are some examples of the DIM function:

• do i=1 to dim(days);

• do i=1 to dim4(days) by 2;

DO WHILE and DO UNTIL Expressions

Arrays are often processed in iterative DO loops that use the array reference in a DO

WHILE or DO UNTIL expression. In this example, the iterative DO loop processes the

elements of the array named Trend.

data test;

array trend{5} x1-x5;

input x1-x5 y;

do i=1 to 5 while(trend{i}<y);

… more SAS statements …

end;

datalines;

… data lines …

;

Using Variable Lists to Define an Array Quickly

SAS reserves the following three names for use as variable list names:

• _CHARACTER_

538 Chapter 23 • Array Processing