The DATASETS Procedure

Results

Directory Listing to the SAS Log
The PROC DATASETS statement lists the SAS files in the procedure input library unless the NOLIST option is specified. If you specify the MEMTYPE= option, only specified types are listed. If you specify the DETAILS option, PROC DATASETS prints three additional columns of information: Obs or Entries, Vars, and Label.

Directory Listing as SAS Output
The CONTENTS statement lists the directory of the procedure input library if you use the DIRECTORY option or use DATA=_ALL_.

If you want only a directory, use the NODS option and the _ALL_ keyword in the DATA= option. The NODS option suppresses the description of the SAS data sets; only the directory appears in the output.

Note: The CONTENTS statement does not put a directory in an output data set. If you try to create an output data set using the NODS option, you receive an empty output data set. Use the SQL procedure to create a SAS data set that contains information about a SAS data library. See DICTIONARY tables for more information. [cautionend]

Procedure Output
The only statement in PROC DATASETS that produces procedure output is the CONTENTS statement. This section shows the output from the CONTENTS statement for the GROUP data set, including the modifications made to the GROUP data set in Modifying SAS Data Sets .

Only the items in the output that require explanation are discussed.

Data Set Attributes

Here are descriptions of selected fields in Data Set Attributes Section :

Member Type: names the type of library member (DATA or VIEW).
Protection: indicates whether the SAS data set is READ, WRITE, or ALTER protected.
Data Set Type: names the special data set type (such as CORR, COV, SSPC, EST, or FACTOR), if any.
Deleted Observations: is the number of observations marked for deletion. These observations are not included in the total number of observations, shown in the Observations field.
Compressed: indicates whether the data set is compressed. If the data set is compressed, the output includes an additional item, Reuse Space (with a value of YES or NO), that indicates whether to reuse space that is made available when observations are deleted.
Sorted: indicates whether the data set is sorted. If you sort the data set with PROC SORT, PROC SQL, or specify sort information with the SORTEDBY= data set option, a value of YES appears here, and there is an additional section to the output. See Sort Information for details.

Data Set Attributes Section

The Contents of the GROUP Data Set DATASETS PROCEDURE Data Set Name: HEALTH.GROUP Observations: 148 Member Type: DATA Variables: 11 Engine: V7 Indexes: 1 Created: 10:42 Thursday, August 28, 1997 Observation Length: 96 Last Modified: 11:13 Thursday, August 28, 1997 Deleted Observations: 0 Protection: READ Compressed: NO Data Set Type: Sorted: YES Label: Test Subjects

Engine and Operating Environment-dependent Information

The CONTENTS statement produces operating environment-specific and engine-specific information. This information differs depending on the operating environment. The example in Engine and Operating Environment Dependent Information Section of CONTENTS Output is from the UNIX environment.

Engine and Operating Environment Dependent Information Section of CONTENTS Output

-----Engine/Host Dependent Information----- Data Set Page Size: 8192 Number of Data Set Pages: 4 File Format: 7 First Data Page: 1 Max Obs per Page: 84 Obs in First Data Page: 62 Index File Page Size: 4096 Number of Index File Pages: 2 Number of Data Set Repairs: 0 File Name: external-file Release Created: 7.00.000 Host Created: HP-UX Inode Number: 718939608 Access Permission: rw-r--r-- Owner Name: UNIX-userid File Size (bytes): 40960

Alphabetic List of Variables and Attributes

Here are descriptions of selected columns in Variable Attributes Section :

#

indicates the position of each variable in the data set.

Variable

is the name of each variable. By default, variables appear alphabetically.

Note: Variable names are sorted such that X1, X2, and X10 appear in that order and not in the true collating sequence of X1, X10, and X2. Variable names that contain an underscore and digits may appear in a nonstandard sort order. For example, P25 and P75 appear before P2_5. [cautionend]

Type

specifies the type of variable, character or numeric.

Pos

specifies the starting position of each variable in the observation.

Note: If none of the variables in the SAS data set has a format, informat, or label associated with it, the column for that attribute does not appear. [cautionend]

Variable Attributes Section

-----Alphabetic List of Variables and Attributes----- # Variable Type Len Pos Format Informat Label ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 BIRTH Num 8 8 DATE7. DATE7. 4 CITY Char 15 58 $. $. 3 FNAME Char 15 43 $. $. 10 HIRED Num 8 16 DATE7. DATE7. 11 HPHONE Char 12 79 $. $. 1 IDNUM Char 4 24 $. $. 7 JOBCODE Char 3 76 $. $. 2 LNAME Char 15 28 $. $. 8 SALARY Num 8 0 COMMA8. current salary excluding bonus 6 SEX Char 1 75 $. $. 5 STATE Char 2 73 $. $.

Alphabetic List of Indexes and Attributes

The section shown in Index Attributes Section appears only if the data set has indexes associated with it.

#: indicates the number of each index. The CONTENTS statement numbers the indexes sequentially as they are defined.
Index: displays the name of each index. For simple indexes, the name of the index is the same as a variable in the data set.
Unique Option: indicates whether the index must have unique values. If the column contains YES, the combination of values of the index variables is unique for each observation.
Nomiss Option: indicates whether the index excludes missing values for all index variables. If the column contains YES, the index does not contain observations with missing values for all index variables.
# of Unique Values: gives the number of unique values in the index.
Variables: names the variables in a composite index.

Index Attributes Section

-----Alphabetic List of Indexes and Attributes----- # of Unique Nomiss Unique # Index Option Option Values Variables -------------------------------------------------------- 1 vital YES YES 148 BIRTH SALARY

Sort Information

The section shown in Sort Information Section appears only if the Sorted field has a value of YES.

Sortedby: indicates how the data are currently sorted. This field contains either the variables and options you use in the BY statement in PROC SORT, the column name in PROC SQL, or the values you specify in the SORTEDBY= option.
Validated: indicates whether PROC SORT or PROC SQL sorted the data. If PROC SORT or PROC SQL sorted the data set, the value is YES. If you assigned the sort information with the SORTEDBY= data set option, the value is NO.
Character Set: is the character set used to sort the data. The value for this field can be ASCII, EBCDIC, or PASCII.
Collating Sequence: is the collating sequence used to sort the data set. This field does not appear if you do not specify a specific collating sequence that is different from the character set. (not shown)
Sort Option: indicates whether PROC SORT used the NODUPKEY or NODUPREC option when sorting the data set. This field does not appear if you did not use one of these options in a PROC SORT statement. (not shown)

Sort Information Section

-----Sort Information----- Sortedby: LNAME Validated: NO Character Set: ASCII

Output Data Sets
The CONTENTS statement is the only statement in the DATASETS procedure that generates output data sets.

The OUT= Data Set

The OUT= option in the CONTENTS statement creates an output data set. Each variable in each DATA= data set has one observation in the OUT= data set. These are the variables in the output data set:

CHARSET

the character set used to sort the data set. The value is ASCII, EBCDIC, or PASCII. A blank appears if the data set does not have sort information stored with it.

COLLATE

the collating sequence used to sort the data set. A blank appears if the sort information for the input data set does not include a collating sequence.

COMPRESS

indicates whether the data set is compressed.

CRDATE

date the data set was created.

DELOBS

number of observations marked for deletion in the data set. (Observations can be marked for deletion but not actually deleted when you use the FSEDIT procedure of SAS/FSP software.)

ENCRYPT

indicates whether the data set is encrypted.

ENGINE

name of the method used to read from and write to the data set.

FORMAT

variable format. The value of FORMAT is a blank if you do not associate a format with the variable.

FORMATD

number of decimals you specify when you associate the format with the variable. The value of FORMATD is 0 if you do not specify decimals in the format.

FORMATL

format length. If you specify a length for the format when you associate the format with a variable, the length you specify is the value of FORMATL. If you do not specify a length for the format when you associate the format with a variable, the value of FORMATL is the default length of the format if you use the FMTLEN option and 0 if you do not use the FMTLEN option.

GENMAX

maximum number of files (generations) for the generation group.

GENNEXT

the next generation number for a generation group.

GENNUM

the generation number.

IDXCOUNT

number of indexes for the data set.

IDXUSAGE

use of the variable in indexes. Possible values are

NONE: the variable is not part of an index.
SIMPLE: the variable has a simple index. No other variables are included in the index.
COMPOSITE: the variable is part of a composite index.
BOTH: the variable has a simple index and is part of a composite index.

INFORMAT

variable informat. The value is a blank if you do not associate an informat with the variable.

INFORMD

number of decimals you specify when you associate the informat with the variable. The value is 0 if you do not specify decimals when you associate the informat with the variable.

INFORML

informat length. If you specify a length for the informat when you associate the informat with a variable, the length you specify is the value of INFORML. If you do not specify a length for the informat when you associate the informat with a variable, the value of INFORML is the default length of the informat if you use the FMTLEN option and 0 if you do not use the FMTLEN option.

JUST

justification (0=left, 1=right).

LABEL

variable label (blank if none given).

LENGTH

variable length.

LIBNAME

libref used for the data library.

MEMLABEL

label for this SAS data set (blank if no label).

MEMNAME

SAS data set that contains the variable.

MEMTYPE

library member type (DATA or VIEW).

MODATE

date the data set was last modified.

NAME

variable name.

NOBS

number of observations in the data set.

NODUPKEY

indicates whether the NODUPKEY option was used in a PROC SORT statement to sort the input data set.

NODUPREC

indicates whether the NODUPREC option was used in a PROC SORT statement to sort the input data set.

NPOS

physical position of the first character of the variable in the data set.

POINTOBS

indicates if the data set can be addressed by observation.

PROTECT

the first letter of the level of protection. The value for PROTECT is one or more of the following:

`A`	indicates the data set is alter-protected.
`R`	indicates the data set is read-protected.
`W`	indicates the data set is write-protected.

REUSE

indicates whether the space made available when observations are deleted from a compressed data set should be reused. If the data set is not compressed, the REUSE variable has a value of NO.

SORTED

the value depends on the sorting characteristics of the input data set. Possible values are

. (period)	for not sorted.
0	for sorted but not validated.
1	for sorted and validated.

SORTEDBY

the value depends on that variable's role in the sort. Possible values are

. (period): if the variable was not used to sort the input data set.
n: where n is an integer that denotes the position of that variable in the sort. A negative value of n indicates that the data set is sorted by the descending order of that variable.

TYPE

type of the variable (1=numeric, 2=character).

TYPEMEM

special data set type (blank if no TYPE= value is specified).

VARNUM

variable number in the data set. Variables are numbered in the order they appear.

The output data set is sorted by the variables LIBNAME and MEMNAME.

Note: The variable names are sorted so that the values X1, X2, and X10 are listed in that order, not in the true collating sequence of X1, X10, X2. Therefore, if you want to use a BY statement on MEMNAME in subsequent steps, run a PROC SORT step on the output data set first or use the NOTSORTED option in the BY statement. [cautionend]
The Data Set Health.Grpout is an example of an output data set created from the GROUP data set, which is shown in Describing a SAS Data Set and in Procedure Output .

The Data Set Health.Grpout

An Example of an Output Data Set 1 OBS LIBNAME MEMNAME MEMLABEL TYPEMEM NAME TYPE LENGTH VARNUM 1 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects BIRTH 1 8 9 2 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects CITY 2 15 4 3 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects FNAME 2 15 3 4 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects HIRED 1 8 10 5 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects HPHONE 2 12 11 6 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects IDNUM 2 4 1 7 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects JOBCODE 2 3 7 8 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects LNAME 2 15 2 9 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects SALARY 1 8 8 10 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects SEX 2 1 6 11 HEALTH GROUP Test Subjects STATE 2 2 5 OBS LABEL FORMAT FORMATL FORMATD INFORMAT INFORML 1 DATE 7 0 DATE 7 2 $ 0 0 $ 0 3 $ 0 0 $ 0 4 DATE 7 0 DATE 7 5 $ 0 0 $ 0 6 $ 0 0 $ 0 7 $ 0 0 $ 0 8 $ 0 0 $ 0 9 current salary excluding bonus COMMA 8 0 0 10 $ 0 0 $ 0 11 $ 0 0 $ 0

An Example of an Output Data Set 2 OBS INFORMD JUST NPOS NOBS ENGINE CRDATE MODATE DELOBS 1 0 0 8 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 2 0 0 58 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 3 0 0 43 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 4 0 0 16 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 5 0 0 79 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 6 0 0 24 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 7 0 0 76 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 8 0 0 28 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 9 0 0 0 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 10 0 0 75 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 11 0 0 73 148 V7 28AUG97:10:42:26 28AUG97:11:13:46 0 OBS IDXUSAGE MEMTYPE IDXCOUNT PROTECT FLAGS COMPRESS REUSE SORTED SORTEDBY 1 COMPOSITE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 2 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 3 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 4 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 5 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 6 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 7 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 8 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 1 9 COMPOSITE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 10 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 . 11 NONE DATA 1 R-- --- NO NO 0 .

An Example of an Output Data Set 3 OBS CHARSET COLLATE NODUPKEY NODUPREC ENCRYPT POINTOBS GENMAX GENNUM GENNEXT 1 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 2 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 3 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 4 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 5 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 6 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 7 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 8 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 9 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 10 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0 11 ASCII NO NO NO YES 0 . 0

The OUT2= Data Set

The OUT2= option in the CONTENTS statement creates an output data set that contains information about indexes and integrity constraints. These are the variables in the output data set:

NUMVARS: the number of variables involved in the index or integrity constraint.
NAME: the name of the index or integrity constraint.
TYPE: the type. For an index, the value is "Index" while for an integrity constraint, the value is the type of integrity constraint (Not Null, Check, Primary Key, etc.).
RECREATE: the SAS statement necessary to recreate the index or integrity constraint.
MG: the value of MESSAGE=, if it is used, in the IC CREATE statement.
INACTIVE: contains YES if the integrity constraint is inactive.
ONDELETE: for a foreign key integrity constraint, contains RESTRICT or SET NULL if applicable (the ON DELETE option in the IC CREATE statement).
ONUPDATE: for a foreign key integrity constraint, contains RESTRICT or SET NULL if applicable (the ON UPDATE option in the IC CREATE statement).
REFERENCE: for a foreign key integrity constraint, contains the name of the referenced data set.
WHERE: for a check integrity constraint, contains the WHERE statement.
UNIQUE: contains YES if the UNIQUE option is defined for the index.
NOMISS: contains YES if the NOMISS option is defined for the index.
IC_BUILD: contains YES if the index was built by creating an integrity constraint.
IC_OWN: contains YES if the index is owned by the integrity constraint.
NUMVALS: the number of distinct values in the index (displayed for centiles).
UPERCMX: the percentage of the index update that triggers a refresh (displayed for centiles).
UPERC: the percentage of the index that has been updated since the last refresh (displayed for centiles).

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