SAS 9.4 Language Reference, 3rd Edition

Chapter 27

SAS Views

Definition of SAS Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

Benefits of Using SAS Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646

When to Use SAS Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

DATA Step Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

Definition of a DATA Step View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

Creating DATA Step Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

What Can You Do with a DATA Step View? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Differences between DATA Step Views and Stored Compiled

DATA Step Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Restrictions and Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

Performance Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

Example 1: Merging Data to Produce Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

Example 2: Producing Additional Output Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650

PROC SQL Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Comparing DATA Step and PROC SQL Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

SAS/ACCESS Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Definition of SAS Views

A SAS view is a type of SAS data set that retrieves data values from other files. A SAS

view contains only descriptor information such as the data types and lengths of the

variables (columns). A SAS view also contains information that is required for retrieving

data values from other SAS data sets or from files that are stored in other software

vendors' file formats. SAS views are of member type VIEW. In most cases, you can use

a SAS view as if it were a SAS data file.

There are two general types of SAS views:

native view

is a SAS view that is created either with a DATA step or with PROC SQL.

interface view

is a SAS view that is created with SAS/ACCESS software. An interface view can

read data from or write data to a database management system (DBMS) such as DB2

or ORACLE. Interface views are also referred to as SAS/ACCESS views. In order to

use SAS/ACCESS views, you must have a license for SAS/ACCESS software.

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