How do I use SAS on a Unix system?

You can access SAS interactively, non-interactively, and as a background process on most Unix systems on which it is installed. At Indiana University Bloomington, SAS is available on Quarry and Libra.

Note: On Quarry, to access SAS, you need to temporarily add a SAS keyword to your software environment using the following command:

Otherwise, you must change your environment permanently by editing your ~/.soft file. For more, see On Big Red and Quarry at IU, how can I use SoftEnv to customize my software environment?

Interactive mode

To run SAS interactively, at the Unix prompt, enter:

The SAS prompt (1?) will appear on the screen. The number appearing with the prompt will increase with each command line. Enter your command(s) and terminate each SAS command with  ;  (the semicolon). For example, to execute a statement, enter:

To end the session, at the SAS prompt, enter:

Non-interactive mode

To run a SAS job non-interactively, at the Unix prompt, enter:

Replace program.sas with your SAS program's filename. When the job has been executed, two new files (program.log and program.lst) will exist in your default directory. In both cases, program represents the name of your SAS program file. If your program file contains errors, the .lst file may not be generated.

As a background process

When you run a non-interactive job, your terminal is not free for other computing tasks until the job is completed. If you want to use your terminal for computing activities while the job runs in the background, include  &  (the ampersand) at the end of the command:

Again, replace program with the name of your SAS program.

This will free your terminal for other computing tasks while the job runs in the background. When the job is completed, a message will be displayed on the screen, and the .log and the .lst file will be stored in the default directory.

For additional information on running SAS on Unix, see the Stat/Math Center's Getting Started with SAS for Unix page.

For more information about statistical and mathematical software, email the UITS Stat/Math Center, visit the center's web page, or phone 812-855-4724 (IUB) or 317-278-4740 (IUPUI). The center is located in Bloomington at 410 N. Park Avenue, and is open for consultation by appointment Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.

Also see:

• Why do logistic regression coefficients in SAS produce opposite signs from those of other statistical software packages?
• In SAS, how do I create an ASCII text file from a SAS data set?
• In SAS, how can I calculate age from the date-of-birth data?
• During a SAS session, how do I redirect the work files?
• In SAS, how can I assign serial numbers to observations in a data set?
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• In SAS, how can I randomly select a certain number of observations from a dataset?
• In SAS, how do I compute Cronbach's alpha?
• In SAS, how do I create a permanent SAS data file?