SAS Support

Table of Contents

Overview

The SAS System is an integrated suite of software for information delivery and analysis. Applications of the SAS System include executive information systems; data entry, retrieval, and management; report writing and graphics; statistical and mathematical analysis; business planning, forecasting, and decision support; operations research and project management; statistical quality improvement; computer performance evaluation; and applications development. SAS is very powerful, and is particularly useful for dealing with large data sets.

SAS Availability

Faculty, staff and students at the University of Virginia may access SAS in three different ways: in ITC labs, via Unix, or on your own computer:

  • ITC Computer Labs

    For the Fall 2008 semester in all ITC computer labs, Version 9.1.3 SP 4 of the SAS Education Analytical Suite (EAS) is installed on Microsoft Windows machines and Version 6.12 is installed on Apple Macintosh machines. SAS is NOT available for the Intel Mac. For a list of all lab locations and available software, visit the ITC Labs and Classrooms website.

  • Via a UNIX account

    SAS Version 9.1.3 EAS for Unix is installed on blue.unix. Linux users may access SAS 9.1.3 and current versions of other ITC-licensed software by mounting ITC's /common directory (Instructions >>). To be able to use these systems, you must first get an account.

  • Get a copy for your own computer(s)

    Important Note:SAS compatibility with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 has NOT been validated. Please read this article before installing SAS on your PC. If you are faculty, staff, or a graduate student of the University, and you have an office in Charlottesville where you work at least twice a week, you may obtain the site-licensed copy of SAS 9.1.3 for Windows, or SAS 6.12 for Macintosh for home or office use. SAS is NOT available for the Intel Mac. Users of Windows XP HOME edition cannot install SAS 9.1.3. You should instead request and install SAS version 8.2. For more information on system requirements and platforms see the system requirements. You may use a UVa site-licensed copy of SAS only as long as you are employed, or you are a registered student, at UVa.

Getting Started with SAS

For help installing SAS 9.1.3 EAS for Windows, please visit our installation instructions. A "Getting Started" tutorial is installed with SAS 9.1.3. For notes on SAS version 8.2, see our tutorial pages.

Getting Help with SAS

If you have questions on usage, there are several options for finding help.

Help from within SAS:

  • SAS for Windows, Macintosh, and on Unix running in X-Windows mode: click on the Help option on the menu along the top of the screen.
  • If SAS on Unix is invoked in full-screen interactive mode, you can use the SAS command HELP to get detailed information about using the Display Manager System as well as help with SAS procedures, commands, and syntax. To exit this mode, use the command ENDSAS;.

Help in Unix

Type man sas to access the manual pages for SAS

Help on the Web

Additionally, SAS Institute publishes a manual that details the operation of SAS on the RS/6000s called "The SAS Companion for the UNIX Environment and Derivatives" and is available for reference only in the Scholars' Lab or may be purchased directly from SAS Institute by telephoning (919) 677-8000.

You can also purchase SAS manuals on-line directly from SAS, Inc. via the SAS SAS bookstore.

Highly recommended for those getting started with SAS is The Little SAS Book by Lora Delwiche and Susan Slaughter.

Finally, check out the Google newsgroup comp.soft-sys.sas.

Help from Consultants

Get additional help with SAS by contacting ITC's Research Computing Support group. For Unix help, contact the Unix consultant: unix-consult@virginia.edu.

SAS Modules

  • SAS/ACCESS, a family of individual interfaces for linking the SAS System with leading database management systems (DBMS).
  • SAS/AF, software that allows you to create interactive windowing applications for the SAS system.
  • SAS/ASSIST, a task-oriented, menu-driven interface for using SAS. Using SAS/ASSIST you can access the power of SAS without knowing programming statements.
  • SAS/BASE, which contains data input, manipulation, and transformation procedures as well as simple descriptive statistical procedures. A complete macro facility is also available as part of the BASE module.
  • SAS/CALC, integrates a multiplatform, fully featured, electronic spreadsheet into other SAS System applications. Data can be accessed directly from any data storage format supported by the SAS System.
  • SAS/CONNECT, (Cooperative Processing Product), enables a local SAS session to establish conversations with remote SAS sessions.
  • SAS/EIS, an object-oriented development environment for creating and maintaining highly intuitive enterprise information systems. It offers a code-free development environment that consolidates the SAS System's capabilities for data access, management, analysis, and presentation.
  • SAS/ENGLISH, software is a portable, natural language interface for data query and reporting.
  • SAS/ETS, (Econometrics and Time Series Analysis), procedures for analyzing time sequential data, especially for economics and business.
  • SAS/FSP (Full-Screen Processing), procedures for full-screen applications; browsing and editing SAS data sets, preparing letters, or examining files.
  • SAS/GIS, the SAS System's Geographic Information System software--a highly interactive tool for displaying and analyzing spatially related data.
  • SAS/GRAPH, a set of procedures for producing high-quality graphs, charts, plots, etc.
  • SAS/IML (Interactive Matrix Language), procedures, commands, functions, and statements for interactive matrix manipulation.
  • SAS/INSIGHT, a set of procedures for producing high-quality, interactive 3-D graphs and visual data manipulation. It can only be accessed from an Xterminal.
  • SAS/LAB, for guided data analysis to meet the day-to-day analytical and data presentation needs of engineers and scientists.
  • SAS/OR, a set of programs for exploring models of distribution networks, production systems, resource allocation problems, and scheduling questions using the tools of operations research.
  • SAS/QC, a set of tools that cover various aspects of statistical quality control, including designing experiments and establishing and improving statistical control.
  • SAS/SHARE, enables multiple users to access, read, write, and update the same data sources concurrently.
  • SAS/SPECTRAVIEW, a tool for multidimensional data visualization and modeling. The software enables you to create, analyze, and modify graphical models representing multidimensional data.
  • SAS/STAT, which contains the statistical procedures for statistical analyses ranging from the simple to the complex, including factor analysis, general linear models, and analysis of variance techniques.
  • SAS/TUTOR, a library of six highly interactive online training courses for the SAS System.

Example SAS Files

SAS Institute provides a complete set of on-line example files that are discussed in their documentation, as well as providing example files for the most frequently requested questions that SAS receives. These sample files are located in the /sas/samples directory. Within the "/sas/samples" directory are six other directories for the various modules. For example, there is a "/sas/samples/base" directory that has the examples for the base module. These files can be copied to your own directory and run. The files are extensively annotated.

Locally written sample programs will be placed in the directory, /research/sas/examples. Currently, files in that directory are:

datecalc.sas
example on date conversion
datecalc.lst
results of datecalc.sas
datecalc.log
log file for datecalc.sas
example1.sas
example of a simple sas file
example2.sas
another example of a simple sas file
sasdata.dat
input file for example1.sas and example2.sas
fig1.sas
example for creating a postscript graph
fig2.sas
example for creating a tektronix graph
import.sas
example of importing a transport datase
import.lst
results of import.sas
import.log
log file for import.sas
export.sas
Export SAS dataset to transport DATA set
statrain.data
sample data file

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