SAS Tutorial | Combining Data in SAS: DATA Step Versus SQL

When combining data in SAS, which one do you use: SQL join or DATA Step merge? For more efficiency, you may consider SQL; for more control, you may want to use the DATA Step. In this SAS How To Tutorial, SAS instructor Dominique Weatherspoon tells you the benefits of each and why it’s not a one-size-fits-all scenario.

Download the Data
Access the party data set Dominique uses on GitHub – https://github.com/sascommunities/sas-howto-tutorials/tree/master/mergedata

Chapters
00:00 – Welcome
00:45 – Set the scene with the data
02:39 – Overview of joins and merges
05:16 – Let’s see the SQL and DATA Step programs
07:20 – DATA Step Full Merge and SQL Full Join Results
07:53 – Which is faster? Check out options fullstimer;
08:13 – How to select specific columns and their order
11:02 – Benefits of including a DATA Step merge in your code
12:36 – DATA Step debugger
13:14 – Benefits of the SQL Join
15:07 – Considerations of both methods

Learn more about SAS Software
Traditional SAS Programming versus SQL – https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/Traditional-SAS-Programming-versus-SQL/ta-p/451481
YouTube Video: Merging Data Sets in SAS using SQL – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhf747bz_nE
Five reasons to use the SAS DATA Step or PROC SQL – https://blogs.sas.com/content/sastraining/2010/12/17/five-reasons-to-use-the-sas-data-step-or-proc-sql/
Using DATA Step MERGE and PROC SQL JOIN to Combine SAS® Datasets - https://www.lexjansen.com/nesug/nesug09/ff/FF03.pdf
SAS® 9.4 SQL Procedure User’s Guide, Fourth Edition – https://go.documentation.sas.com/api/docsets/sqlproc/9.4/content/sqlproc.pdf
What are 10 Ways to Make My SAS Code Run More Efficiently? – https://www.sas.com/en_us/webinars/sas-code-run-more-efficiently.html?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=paid-social&utm_campaign=sas-gen-us
Learning Subscription (Free for 30 days) – https://www.sas.com/gms/redirect.jsp?detail=GMS123646_190604


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