Step-by-Step Programming with Base SAS 9.4

Understanding Summary Table Design

If you design your summary table in advance, then you can save time and write simpler SAS code to produce the summary table. The basic steps of summary table design and construction are listed next. For a detailed step-by-step example of the design process, see PROC TABULATE by Example.

Before designing a summary table, it is important to understand that the summary table produces summary data wherever values for two or more variables intersect. The point of intersection is a cell. When values for two or more variables intersect, the variables are said to be crossed. The process of crossing variables to form intersections is called crosstabulation. Variables in columns, rows, and pages can be crossed to produce ...