Lessons learned: valuable (but hidden) SAS® details

Abstract Sometimes the simplest SAS® task can become unnecessarily complex. Often the complexity of SAS®, itself, is the cause. Crucial details are easily hidden among the thousands of pages of SAS® documentation, technical notes, release updates, etc. The authors demonstrate a collection of SAS® features and techniques that are not well known, somewhat counterintuitive or undocumented, but all are surprisingly useful once learned and mastered. Mysterious SAS® behavior that might have inspired ‘work-arounds’ should now become transparent. Topics include environment settings; system options; and operators, functions and statements from SAS Language®, Macro Language®, SCL® and SAS/Graph®. The authors intend, through this selective review of uncommon techniques, to inspire a general interest in leveraging the power and maximizing the efficiency of programming tools.