Every SAS journey begins here. Without a solid grip on the environment, all subsequent code is fragile. This unit ensures structural confidence before any data is touched.

• SAS interface layout: Program editor, Log, Output windows
• SAS libraries, logical names and LIBNAME statement
• SAS program structure: DATA step vs PROC step
• SAS variable types: Numeric, Character, Date
• SAS naming conventions and commenting practices

The DATA step is the heart of SAS. It controls how data enters the system, how it is transformed and how it flows. Mastery here unlocks every advanced topic that follows.

• INPUT, INFILE, SET, MERGE, UPDATE statements
• Conditional logic: IF-THEN-ELSE, SELECT-WHEN
• DO loops, DO WHILE, DO UNTIL structures
• Arrays and restructuring data (reshape logic)
• Data cleaning: missing values, error handling, coercions
• Output control: KEEP, DROP, RENAME, WHERE

PROC procedures are SAS's ready-to-use analytics engines. Each PROC solves a specific category of problem — statistical, descriptive, structural or output-oriented. This unit covers the most exam-critical and industry-relevant ones.

• PROC PRINT, PROC CONTENTS, PROC DATASETS
• PROC SORT, PROC FREQ, PROC MEANS, PROC SUMMARY
• PROC TABULATE for cross-tabulation reporting
• PROC REPORT for professional formatted output
• PROC SQL — full SQL inside SAS
• PROC TRANSPOSE for data restructuring

This is where SAS earns its reputation in research. Statistical analysis in SAS is audit-ready, reproducible and globally accepted — critical for pharma, finance and government research.

• PROC UNIVARIATE — full distributional analysis
• PROC CORR — correlation matrices and p-values
• PROC REG — linear regression modelling
• PROC ANOVA & PROC GLM — variance analysis
• PROC LOGISTIC — binary and ordinal outcome models
• Hypothesis testing framework in SAS context

SAS Macros elevate you from a code-writer to an automation architect. They allow dynamic, reusable programs — the difference between a beginner and a professional SAS programmer.

• Macro variables: %LET, automatic vs user-defined
• Macro programs: %MACRO / %MEND structure
• Macro conditionals: %IF-%THEN, %DO loops
• CALL SYMPUT and SYMGET — DATA to macro bridge
• Macro debugging: MPRINT, MLOGIC, SYMBOLGEN options
• Practical automation: reusable reporting frameworks

Knowing how to produce clean, professional output is what separates academic SAS from industry SAS. ODS controls formatting and delivery — PDF reports, RTF documents, Excel exports.

• ODS PDF, ODS RTF, ODS EXCEL destinations
• Custom formats with PROC FORMAT
• Labels and display formatting in output
• TITLE and FOOTNOTE statements for professional reports
• ODS GRAPHICS for built-in graph generation