SAS Tip
of the Month
August 2004
SAS, like most other computer languages, use mathematical operators. The following table lists the most common operators used along with their definition and an example. Note that some operators have two or more forms, for example the Logical Not operator that can use either the "^", "~" or "NOT" symbols.
| Symbol(s) | Definiton | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ** | exponentiation | z=a**(0.5); |
| ^,~,NOT | logical not | if ^missing(z) then z=1; |
| ><,MIN | minimum | z=(x><y); |
| <>,MAX | maximum | z=(x<>y); |
| * | multiplication | z=x*y; |
| / | division | z=x/y; |
| + | addition | z=x+y; |
| - | subtraction | z=x-y; |
| ||,!!,¦¦ | concatenate character values | z='Mr. '||surname; |
| <,LT | less than | if x<y then z=1; |
| <=,LE | less than or equal to | if x<=y then z=2; |
| =,EQ | equal to | if x eq y then z=3; |
| ^=,~=,NE | not equal to | if x^=y then z=0; |
| >=,GE | greater than or equal to | if x ge y then z=5; |
| >,GT | greater than | if x>y then z=6; |
| IN | equal to one of a list | if x in(1,2,3) then z=7; |
| &,AND | logical and | if x & y then z=8; |
| |,!,¦,OR | logical or | if x=1 or y then z=9; |
Updated August 1, 2004