SAS Certification Prep Guide, 4th Edition

Working with Lookup Values Outside of SAS Data Sets

Overview

Remember that it is not necessary for your lookup table to be a SAS data set. Suppose you want to combine the data from your base table with lookup values that are not stored in a SAS data set. You can use the following techniques to hardcode lookup values into your program:

• the IF-THEN/ELSE statement
• SAS arrays
• user-defined SAS formats
• hash objects.

The IF-THEN/ELSE Statement

You should be familiar with the syntax and use of the IF-THEN/ELSE statement. Overall, this technique is easy to use and easy to understand. Because of its simplicity and because you can use other DATA step syntax with it, the IF-THEN/ELSE statement can be quite versatile as a technique ...