The Power of RETAIN Statement in SAS Programming: Advantages and Use Cases
The Power of RETAIN Statement in SAS Programming: Advantages and Use Cases The Power of RETAIN Statement in SAS Programming: Advantages and Use Cases Author: Sarath Date: October 10, 2024 Introduction The RETAIN statement in SAS is a powerful tool used to control the behavior of variables across iterations in a data step. Unlike standard SAS variables, which are reset at the beginning of each iteration, RETAIN allows you to preserve the value of a variable from one iteration to the next. In this blog post, we will explore the advantages and use cases of the RETAIN statement in SAS programming, including controlling variable order, and provide practical examples. Advantages of the RETAIN Statement Preserve Values Across Iterations: The primary advantage of using the RETAIN statement is its ability to retain values across data step iterations. This feature...