Return to Archive

SAS Tip of the Month
April 2006

Six ways to make your program run faster:

1. Use the DROP or KEEP statements to reduce the variables being processed within a DATA step or procedure.
2. Use a DATA _NULL_ step when the output from the DATA step is not required.
3. Use a CLASS statement rather than the BY statement in a procedure, which may require a SORT first.
4. Use the LENGTH statement to minimize variable lengths.
5. Create multiple datasets within the one DATA step.
6. Where possible, use the WHERE statement in DATA steps and procedures instead of subsetting the data in a DATA step with an IF statement.