This document provides an overview of using PROC SQL in SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3. It discusses the basics of SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3, the typical SQL statement structure including common clauses, best practices for order of operations and joins, and how to use macro variables with PROC SQL. The purpose is to provide guidance for both beginners and advanced users on effectively working with PROC SQL.

1. PROC SQL
IN SAS ENTERPRISE
GUIDE 4.3
Mark Tabladillo
December 12, 2011

2. About MarkTab
2
 Consultant: Data Mining Architect
 SAS since 1991
 Microsoft MVP this year
 Presenting and Publishing since 1998
 Data Mining Blog http://www.marktab.net
 Twitter @marktabnet
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

3. Purpose
3
 Provide basic vocabulary and pointers for
absolute beginners
 Challenge intermediate-to-advanced users
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

4. Outline
4
 Basics on Enterprise Guide 4.3
 PROC SQL
 SQL Clauses
 Order of Operations – Best Practices
 Joins – Best Practices
 Macro variables
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

5. (C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo 5
BASICS ON SAS
ENTERPRISE GUIDE
4.3

6. About SAS Enterprise Guide
6
4.3
 Shipped July 2011
 New features include
 New Program Editor with Autocomplete and
Integrated Syntax Help
 Explicit SQL Pass-through Option
 Macro Variables for Conditional Processing
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/whatsnew/62580/HTML/default/viewer.htm#egwhatsnew43
.htm
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

7. SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3
7
Tutorial
 http://support.sas.com/documentation/onlinedoc/guide/tut43/en/
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

8. Tutorial Topics
8
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

9. Enterprise Guide is Client
Software
SAS
on Windows
SAS
on Mainframe
SAS
on UNIX
SAS Enterprise
Guide
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo
9

10. The SAS Intelligence Platform
Architecture
Enterprise Guide is fully integrated with the
servers in the SAS 9 environment.
SAS Metadata Server
SAS OLAP
Server
SAS Enterprise Guide SAS Stored Process Server
SAS Workspace Server
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo
10

11. (C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo 11
PROC SQL
SQL Clauses

12. Important in Enterprise Guide
12
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

13. Autocompletion
13
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

14. Typical SQL Statement – Six
14
Clauses
SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
<WHERE expression>
<GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
<HAVING expression>
<ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit;
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

15. How many clauses are
15
required?
SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
<WHERE expression>
<GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
<HAVING expression>
<ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit;
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

16. What is an example of a
16
column?
SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
<WHERE expression>
<GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
<HAVING expression>
<ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit;
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

17. What is an example of a table?
17
SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
<WHERE expression>
<GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
<HAVING expression>
<ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit;
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

18. What is an example of an
18
expression?
SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
<WHERE expression>
<GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
<HAVING expression>
<ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit;
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

19. What does DESC mean?
19
SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
<WHERE expression>
<GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
<HAVING expression>
<ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit;
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

20. Mnemonic
20
SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
<WHERE expression>
<GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
<HAVING expression>
<ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ... Column-n>>;
quit;
SO
FEW
WORKERS
GO
HOME
ON time!
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

21. (C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo 21
PROC SQL
Order of Operations – Best Practices

22. Order of Operations
22
 SQL is a declarative language
 You declare the final product
 Then, the SQL interpreter decides how to create
that final product
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

23. Why try for one SELECT
23
statement?
 SQL is a declarative language
 You declare the final product
 Then, the SQL interpreter decides how to create
that final product
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

24. Order of Operations
24
5 SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
1
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
2 <WHERE expression>
3 <GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
4 <HAVING expression>
6 <ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit;
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

25. Best Practices?
25
5 SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
1
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
2 <WHERE expression>
3 <GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
4 <HAVING expression>
6 <ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit;
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

26. (C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo 26
PROC SQL
Joins – Best Practices

27. Joins
27
Type Description
LEFT JOIN One to Many
RIGHT JOIN Many to One
FULL JOIN Many to Many, with Missing
CROSS JOIN Product
UNION JOIN Concatenation
NATURAL JOIN Conservative Matching
Recommended:
Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (3rd Edition) by Ben Forta
Reference:
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/proc/61895/HTML/def
ault/viewer.htm#a002473691.htm
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

28. Think Through Join Sources
28
 SAS can join
 SAS
 Excel
 Access
 Oracle
 Mainframe
 Text Files
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

29. Best Practice Rules
29
 Typed data is better than non-typed
 Subset better than the whole
 Native SQL better than SAS SQL
 In-memory data is faster than disk data
 Close to the server is better than far away –
subset before moving
 SAS sources are better than not
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

30. (C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo 30
PROC SQL
Macro Variables

31. PROC SQL Makes Macro
31
Variables
SELECT column-1 <, ...column-n>
INTO macro-variable-specification
< , ... macro-variable-specification>
FROM table-1|view-1<, ...table-n|view-n>
<WHERE expression>
<GROUP BY column-1 <, ....column-n>>
<HAVING expression>
<ORDER BY column-1 <DESC><, ...
Column-n>>;
quit; (C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

32. What is a Macro Variable?
32
 Text Variable
 Stores Information in Memory
 Typically scoped to Global
 Dynamically Generated
 Useful as a prequel to a PROC SQL statement
 Useful as an Enterprise Guide 4.3 Condition
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

33. Macro Variables as Conditions
33
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

34. Defining a Macro Condition
34
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

35. Process Flow Conditions
35
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

36. Recommended
36
 http://support.sas.com
 Books
 Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (3rd
Edition) by Ben Forta
 The Little SAS Book for Enterprise Guide 4.2 by
Susan J. Slaughter and Lora D. Delwiche
 Professional SAS Programmer's Pocket
Reference Sixth Edition by Rick Aster
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo

37. Conclusion
37
 Enterprise Guide 4.3 allows for simple through
advanced processing with PROC SQL
 Many resources available:
 FreeSAS tutorials
 Books
 People
(C) 2011 Mark Tabladillo