List only the column names of a dataset

sas
siso picture siso · Jul 25, 2013 · Viewed 63.7k times · Source

I am working on SAS in UNIX env and I want to view only the column name of a dataset. I have tried proc contents and proc print but both of them list a lot of other irrevelant information that I do not want as it fills up my putty screen and the information ultimately is lost.

I also tried to get this thing frm the sas metadata but that is not working either. I tried :

  2? proc sql;
  select *
 from dictionary.tables
 where libname='test' and memname='sweden_elig_file_jul';
quit;
  5?
NOTE: No rows were selected.

  6?
NOTE: PROCEDURE SQL used (Total process time):
      real time           0.27 seconds
      cpu time            0.11 seconds

Answer

Chris J picture Chris J · Jul 25, 2013

You're using the wrong dictionary table to get column names...

proc sql ;
  select name 
  from dictionary.columns
  where memname = 'mydata'
  ;
quit ;

Or using PROC CONTENTS

proc contents data=mydata out=meta (keep=NAME) ; 
run ; 
proc print data=meta ; run ;

Related questions

Nested ifelse statement

I'm still learning how to translate a SAS code into R and I get warnings. I need to understand where I'm making mistakes. What I want to do is create a variable which summarizes and differentiates 3 status of a population: …

Read More
SAS function for using 'power' / exponential

I may be missing something obvious, but how do you calculate 'powers' in SAS? Eg X squared, or Y cubed? what I need is to have variable1 ^ variable2, but cannot find the syntax... (I am using SAS 9.1.3)

Read More
sas date - convert today() into yyyymmdd format

How do I convert a SAS date such as "30JUL2009"d into YYYYMMDD format (eg 20090730)? So for instance: data _null_; format test ?????; test=today(); put test=; run; Would give me "test=20090730" in the log...

Read More