Date:         Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:17:14 +0000
Reply-To:     "Keintz, H. Mark" <mkeintz@WHARTON.UPENN.EDU>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Keintz, H. Mark" <mkeintz@WHARTON.UPENN.EDU>
Subject:      Re: OT: Chance to Make SAS-L History: Did You Know That...
Comments: To: Arthur Tabachneck <art297@ROGERS.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <201104291531.p3TF1QQI001105@waikiki.cc.uga.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Not entirely, if you regard "WHERE=" as a dataset option.

The "WHERE=" parameter is honored before FIRSTOB and OBS.

Mark Keintz
Wharton Research Data Services
215/898-2160

-----Original Message-----
From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Arthur Tabachneck
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 11:31 AM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: OT: Chance to Make SAS-L History: Did You Know That...

This tip was stolen from one of Chang's posts to the sasCommunity.org tips'
page, but so useful that I thought it should be shared here.

Did you know that when multiple dataset options are contained in a single statement, they are executed according to the lexicographical(alphabetical) order of their names?  A drop option is executed before a keep, and a keep before a rename.  Thus, you have to use the old (before being renamed) variable names in your keep and drop options.

Thanks Chang!  I, for one, had never realized that simple rule of thumb.