On Jul 3, 2:13 pm, RolandRB <rolandbe...@hotmail.com> wrote: > On Jul 3, 2:07 pm, RolandRB <rolandbe...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > On Jul 3, 8:57 am, RolandRB <rolandbe...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > Here is a good paper entitled "SAS to R to SAS" by Phil Holland. > > > >http://www.hollandnumerics.co.uk/pdf/SAS2R2SAS_paper.pdf > > > > It is a good marriage of SAS and R that I think is an ideal jumping > > > off point for the use of R alongside SAS in the pharmaceutical > > > industry. The more I read, the less I think that SAS is going to "go > > > away" for the purposes of clinical reporting and be replaced by R. R > > > currently can't handle large volumes of data such as lab data. SAS > > > can. So with SAS staying around then it is likely that all data > > > manipulation will be done using SAS. So that's us SAS programmers who > > > do clinical reporting still safe in our jobs.......... > > > > ......However, I do see R being used alongside SAS. The ideal > > > situation is to call R from a SAS program that does all the data > > > manipulation, to run the R code using a system call and to incorporate > > > the R log output into the SAS log output. This is the best of both > > > worlds since this way data of any volume can be easily manipulated, we > > > can use routines or special statistical analysis in R where needed and/ > > > or produce its famous "superior graphics" that can be incorporated > > > into output and have both the SAS and R logs in the same file where it > > > can be scanned for errors, warnings and important notes. > > > > Phil's paper is a good jumping off point, as I said. I wouldn't have > > > done things quite that way and for us SAS programmers, a lot more > > > detail would be helpful. I hope to create some pages on my web site > > > sometime that goes into this in a lot of detail so that clinical sas > > > programmers can comfortably make the transition across into > > > incorporating R code in their SAS programs. > > > I am guessing the method Phil is describing would in principle work > > with other software packages such as matlab and stata. If running > > other software packages like that then I would try the XSYNC NOXWAIT > > system options and not launch the software with the "x" command but > > rather using: > > > systask command "the command" taskname=xxx; > > waitfor xxx; > > > .....as you might get annoying application windows flashing open and > > closed otherwise. > > > If the code for the external software were in the form of DATALINES > > then it would be much neater than enclosing the code in quotes > > preceded by a "put". > > > I think SAS is here to stay (within the pharmaceutical sector) and > > where SAS is deemed lacking such as in graphics and statistical > > analysis then using this method of combining sas code with external > > software is a happy marriage that keeps everything neat and simple.- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - > > I should have written DATALINES4 rather than DATALINES.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text -

Like this:

data _null_; file "C:\spectre\roland.txt"; input; put _infile_; datalines4; this is a long; line; with semicolons this is the second line and is very very long ;;;; run;