SAS Functions by Example, 2nd Edition

Fully updated for SAS 9.2, Ron Cody’s SAS Functions by Example, Second Edition, is a must-have reference for anyone who programs in Base SAS. With the addition of functions new to SAS 9.2, this comprehensive reference manual now includes more than 200 functions, including new character, date and time, distance, probability, sort, and special functions. This new edition also contains more examples for existing functions and more details concerning optional arguments.

Like the first edition, the new edition also includes a list of SAS programs, an alphabetic list of all the functions in the book, and a comprehensive index of functions and tasks. Beginning and experienced SAS users will benefit from this useful reference guide to SAS functions.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

This book is what on-line “help files” aspire to be when they grow up. The organization, centered around types of functions, makes it ideal for when you need to solve a problem and you can’t remember (or don’t know) the key word to solve the task. Like every other set of documentation, each function is presented with the name, a very short text description of its purpose, the syntax (with tables of arguments where appropriate), and examples with explanations. The examples and writing in the explanations are truly outstanding. The author gives clear short examples that are easy to follow along with common gotchas and ways to accomplish tasks better/safer. For example, in his discussion of the compress function, he talks about safe and less save ways to remove characters that have found their way into numeric variables.

The second edition has a lot more examples compared to the first edition, redesigned coverage of PERL regular expressions and CALL routines, and tips on what is new in 9.2. Also, the index is better in this edition.

The book is well enough written that it will help novices figure out how SAS works and there is plenty of new material even for experts (I have been teaching SAS for many years and I picked up new tricks from this edition). So, I strongly recommend it for people at all levels.