ds_sort

Sort the observations in a given dataset.

%ds_sort(idsn, odsn=, asc=, desc=, dupdsn=, sortseq=, options=, ilib=WORK, olib=WORK);

Arguments

• idsn : a dataset reference;
• asc : (option) list of variables to consider so as to sort idsn in ascending order; default: not set;
• desc : (option) list of variables to consider so as to sort idsn in ascending order; default: not set; note however that asc and desc cannot be both empty;
• dupdsn : (option) name of the DUPOUT dataset, i.e. all deleted observations, if any, will be put in this dataset (in WORK library); default: not used;
• sortseq : (option) option used by the PROC SORT procedure so as to change the sorting order of character variables; default: not used;
• options : (option) any additional options accepted by the PROC SORT procedure;
• ilib : (option) name of the input library; by default: empty, i.e. WORK is used;

Returns

• odsn : (option) name of the output dataset (in WORK library) sorted by (ascending) asc variables and descending desc variables; when not set, the input dataset idsn will be replaced with the newly sorted version; default: not set;
• olib : (option) name of the output library; by default: empty, and the value of ilib is used.

Examples

Let us consider the test dataset #35:

geo	time	EQ_INC20	RB050a
BE	2009	10	10
BE	2010	50	10
BE	2011	60	10
BE	2012	20	20
BE	2013	10	20
BE	2014	30	20
BE	2015	40	20
IT	2009	10	10
IT	2010	50	10
IT	2011	50	10
IT	2012	30	20
IT	2013	30	20
IT	2014	20	20
IT	2015	50	20

and run the macro:

%_dstest35;
%ds_sort(_dstest35, asc=time, desc=eq_inc20 rb050a);

which updates _dstest35 with the following table:

geo	time	EQ_INC20	RB050a
BE	2009	10	10
IT	2009	10	10
BE	2010	50	10
IT	2010	50	10
BE	2011	60	10
IT	2011	50	10
IT	2012	30	20
BE	2012	20	20
IT	2013	30	20
BE	2013	10	20
BE	2014	30	20
IT	2014	20	20
IT	2015	50	20
BE	2015	40	20

Run macro %_example_ds_sort for more examples.

Notes

1. In short, the macro runs the following PROC SORT procedure:

PROC SORT DATA=&ilib..&idsn 
    OUT=&olib..&odsn
    DUPOUT=&dupdsn
    &options;
    BY &asc DESCENDING &desc;
run;

1. In debug mode (e.g., G_PING_DEBUG=1), the macro is used to return a string:

%let proc=%ds_sort( ... );

where proc is the procedure that launches the operation (see above), and while the actual operation is actually not ran. Further note that in the case the variable G_PING_DEBUG` is not defined in your environment, debug mode is ignored (i.e., by default the operation is ran).

References

1. Bassett, B.K. (2006): "The SORT procedure: Beyond the basics".
2. Fickbohm, D. (2007): "The SORT procedure: Beyond the basics".
3. Cherny, M. (2015): "Getting the most out of PROC SORT: A review of its advanced options".

See also

%ds_isempty, %lib_check, %var_check, SORT.