SAS 9.4 Language Reference, 3rd Edition

The following window appears for the Air data set:

4. In the Description field of the General tab, you can enter a description of the data

set. To save the description, click OK.

5. Select other tabs to display additional information about the data set.

Working with VIEWTABLE

Overview of VIEWTABLE

To manipulate data interactively, you can use the SAS table editor called VIEWTABLE.

In the VIEWTABLE window, you can create a new table, and browse or edit an existing

table.

View the Contents of a SAS Data Set

To view the contents of a data set with VIEWTABLE, follow these steps:

1. Open SAS Explorer and select a library.

The contents of the library appears in the right pane.

2. Double-click a data set within the library.

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The VIEWTABLE window appears and is populated with data from the data set:

3. Scroll the VIEWTABLE window to view all of the data in your data set.

Displaying Column Names or Column Labels

You can display either column labels or column names in your VIEWTABLE table.

Select VIEW from the menu to look at the option that is selected. You can change how

to display the headings in your table by selecting either Column Labels or Column

Name. In the following examples, column labels are displayed.

Move Columns in a Table

Within the VIEWTABLE window, you can rearrange columns in your table. To move

columns in your table, follow these steps:

1. Click a column heading for the column that you want to move.

2. Drag and drop the heading onto another column heading.

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In this example, if you click the heading Name, and then drag and drop Name onto

Team at the End of 1986, the Name column moves to the right of the Team at the

End of 1986 column.

Temporarily Change Column Headings

Within the VIEWTABLE window, you can temporarily change column headings. To

temporarily change column headings, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the heading for the column that you want to change, and then select

Column Attributes from the menu.

2. In the Label field of the Column Attributes window, enter the new name of the

column heading and then click Apply.

In this example, the Name heading is replaced by the Name of Player label.

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When you press Apply, the column heading in VIEWTABLE changes to the new

name.

In this example, the label was changed to Name of Player.

3. Click Close to close the Column Attributes window.

Saving Column Labels or Column Names

When you open a data set using VIEWTABLE and look at the View menu options,

either Column Labels or Column Names is selected. Check the box that you want to

use. When you exit VIEWTABLE or exit SAS, the preference for column labels or

column names is saved. When you open VIEWTABLE or invoke SAS again, the

preference that you chose is automatically selected.

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This feature is available in SAS 9.4M1 and later releases.

Sort by Values of a Column

You can sort your table in ascending or descending order, based on the values in a

column. You can sort data permanently or create a sorted copy of your table.

To sort your table, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the heading of the column on which you want to sort, and select Sort

from the menu.

2. Select Ascending or Descending from the menu.

3. When the following warning message appears, click Yes to create a sorted copy of

the table.

Note: If you selected Edit Mode after opening the table and clicking a data cell, this

window does not appear. SAS updates the original table.

4. In the Sort window, enter the name of the new sorted table.

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