PROC FREQ Statement

PROC FREQ < options > ;

Table 28.4: PROC FREQ Statement Options

Option

Description

DATA=

specifies the input data set.

COMPRESS

begins the next one-way table on the current page even if the entire table does not fit on that page.

FORMCHAR=

specifies the outline and cell divider characters for the cells of the crosstabulation table.

NOPRINT

suppresses all displayed output.

ORDER=

specifies the order to list the variable values.

PAGE

displays one table per page.

COMPRESS

begins display of the next one-way frequency table on the same page as the preceding one-way table if there is enough space to begin the table. By default, the next one-way table begins on the current page only if the entire table fits on that page. The COMPRESS option is not valid with the PAGE option.

DATA=SAS-data-set

names the SAS data set to be analyzed by PROC FREQ. If you omit the DATA= option, the procedure uses the most recently created SAS data set.

FORMCHAR (1,2,7) ='formchar-string'

defines the characters to be used for constructing the outlines and dividers for the cells of contingency tables. The FORMCHAR= option can specify 20 different SAS formatting characters used to display output; however, PROC FREQ uses only the first, second, and seventh formatting characters. Therefore, the proper specification for PROC FREQ is FORMCHAR(1,2,7)= 'formchar-string'. The formchar-string should be three characters long. The characters are used to denote (1) vertical separator, (2) horizontal separator, and (7) vertical-horizontal intersection. You can use any character in formchar-string, including hexadecimal characters. If you use hexadecimal characters, you must put an x after the closing quote. For information on which hexadecimal codes to use for which characters, consult the documentation for your hardware.

Specifying all blanks for formchar-string produces tables with no outlines or dividers:

   formchar (1,2,7)='   '

If you do not specify the FORMCHAR= option, PROC FREQ uses the default

   formchar(1,2,7)='|-+'

Refer to the CALENDAR, PLOT, and TABULATE procedures in the SAS Procedures Guide for more information on form characters.

Table 28.5: Formatting Characters Used by PROC FREQ

Position	Default	Used to Draw
1	\|	vertical separators
2	-	horizontal separators
7	+	intersections of vertical and horizontal separators

NOPRINT

suppresses the display of all output. Note that this option temporarily disables the Output Delivery System (ODS). For more information, see Chapter 15, "Using the Output Delivery System."

Note: A NOPRINT option is also available in the TABLES statement. It suppresses display of the crosstabulation tables but allows display of the requested statistics.

ORDER=DATA | FORMATTED | FREQ | INTERNAL

specifies the order in which the values of the frequency and crosstabulation table variables are to be reported. The following table shows how PROC FREQ interprets values of the ORDER= option.

DATA: orders values according to their order in the input data set.
FORMATTED: orders values by their formatted values. This order is operating environment dependent. By default, the order is ascending.
FREQ: orders values by descending frequency count.
INTERNAL: orders values by their unformatted values, which yields the same order that the SORT procedure does. This order is operating environment dependent.

By default, ORDER=INTERNAL. The ORDER= option does not apply to missing values, which are always ordered first.

PAGE

displays only one table per page. Otherwise, PROC FREQ displays multiple tables per page as space permits. The PAGE option is not valid with the COMPRESS option.