Though Proc Means and Proc Summary are 2 different procedures essentially used to compute descriptive statistics of numeric variables, but there are differences between these two. (
1) By default, Proc MEANS produces printed output in the LISTING window or other open destination whereas Proc SUMMARY does not.
2) Proc Summary only produces the descriptive statistics for the variables that are specified in the VAR statement, where as Proc Means by default, computes the descriptive statistics of the numeric variables even without the VAR statement.
Here is a post which details the differences:
Excerpt:
Proc SUMMARY and Proc MEANS are essentially the same procedure. Both procedures compute descriptive statistics. The main difference concerns the default type of output they produce. Proc MEANS by default produces printed output in the LISTING window or other open destination whereas Proc SUMMARY does not. Inclusion of the print option on the Proc SUMMARY statement will output results to the output window.
The second difference between the two procedures is reflected in the omission of the VAR statement. When all variables in the data set are character the same output: a simple count of observations, is produced for each procedure. However, when some variables in the dataset are numeric, Proc MEANS analyses all numeric variables not listed in any of the other statements and produces default statistics for these variables (N, Mean, Standard Deviation, Minimum and Maximum).
