Jump start in PROC REPORT

PROC REPORT coding can get verbose, especially if there are a lot of variables requiring DEFINE statements. Here is a little trick which may speed things up a bit.

First, run PROC REPORT against the data set of interest, including the LIST option to list the code in the log and the NOEXEC option to prevent SAS from actually running the code. For example:

proc report data = sashelp.class list noexec ;
run ;

This should appear in the log:

PROC REPORT DATA=SASHELP.CLASS LS=96 PS=55 SPLIT="/" CENTER ;
    COLUMN Name Sex Age Height Weight;
    DEFINE Name / DISPLAY FORMAT= $8. WIDTH=8 SPACING=2 LEFT "Name" ;
    DEFINE Sex / DISPLAY FORMAT= $1. WIDTH=1 SPACING=2 LEFT "Sex" ;
    DEFINE Age / SUM FORMAT= BEST9. WIDTH=9 SPACING=2 RIGHT "Age" ;
    DEFINE Height / SUM FORMAT= BEST9. WIDTH=9 SPACING=2 RIGHT "Height" ;
    DEFINE Weight / SUM FORMAT= BEST9. WIDTH=9 SPACING=2 RIGHT "Weight" ;
RUN;

Copy the code to the program editor, and make any needed changes. Suppose we want average heights and weights by sex and age. Just insert the NOWD option in the PROC statement (assuming that interactive windowing is not needed), comment out the reference to NAME in the COLUMN statement and the DEFINE statement for NAME, and change the first option in each of the remaining DEFINE statements:

PROC REPORT DATA=SASHELP.CLASS LS=96 PS=55 SPLIT="/" CENTER nowd ;
    COLUMN /* Name */ Sex Age Height Weight;
*   DEFINE Name / DISPLAY FORMAT= $8. WIDTH=8 SPACING=2 LEFT "Name" ;
    DEFINE Sex / group FORMAT= $1. WIDTH=1 SPACING=2 LEFT "Sex" ;
    DEFINE Age / group FORMAT= BEST9. WIDTH=9 SPACING=2 RIGHT "Age" ;
    DEFINE Height / mean FORMAT= BEST9. WIDTH=9 SPACING=2 RIGHT "Height" ;
    DEFINE Weight / mean FORMAT= BEST9. WIDTH=9 SPACING=2 RIGHT "Weight" ;
RUN;

The output:

S
e
x Age Height Weight
F 11 51.3 50.5
    12 58.05 80.75
    13 60.9 91
    14 63.55 96.25
    15 64.5 112.25
M 11 57.5 85
    12 60.366667 103.5
    13 62.5 84
    14 66.25 107.5
    15 66.75 122.5
    16 72 150

Cosmetic refinements can be made by changing the WIDTH option for SEX and the FORMAT options for HEIGHT and WEIGHT.