Date:         Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:35:31 -0400
Reply-To:     Bruce Johnson <bjohnson@SOLUCIENT.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Bruce Johnson <bjohnson@SOLUCIENT.COM>
Subject:      Re: PROC CONTENTS or DATASETS--Easy question
Comments: To: Tracy Haidar <thaida1@UMBC.EDU>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Here's an easy way, but not very elegant...

Proc contents data=rdata._all_ noprint out=temp;
Run;
Proc print data=temp;
 var memname name varnum format nobs;
Run;

That will get you the dataset name (memname), the variable name (name),
the number of variables (varnum..select the highest number), the format
of the variable (format), and the number of observations (nobs).

Now, you could so some fancy coding and create a report with this
information as well.  It all depends on how pretty it needs to be.

________________________________
Bruce A. Johnson
bjohnson@solucient.com


-----Original Message-----
From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Tracy Haidar
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 12:21 PM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: PROC CONTENTS or DATASETS--Easy question


How do I use proc contents or datasets to read in the contents of a
directory and

(1) Create a printout with ONLY the data set name, #obs, #variables, and
format associated with each variable
(2) Create a dataset with ONLY the info in (1) above?

I've been experimenting with various options with both proc contents and
proc datasets, but I'm getting too little or too much info rather than
JUST the info in (1) above. This can't be too hard! Can someone advise
me on the propoer options to use with either of these PROCs to get the
info I need?

For example, I am reading in the contents of an Access database. When I
use the following:

libname rdata odbc
  dsn= rdata_1;

proc contents  directory data= rdata._all_ out=temp ;
run;

I get WAY more info in both the output and the data set than I need.
Also, in the data set #obs is missing (not sure why) and #variables
isn't included (instead each variable is listed).

Adding other options to this so far hasn't given me what I'm looking
for...

Thanks,

Tracy
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