DATALINES;
indicates that data
lines immediately follow the DATALINES statement. A semicolon in the
line that immediately follows the last data line indicates the end
of the data and causes the DATA step to compile and execute.
INFILE DATALINES DLM='character';
identifies the source
of the input records as data lines in the job stream rather than as
an external file. When your program contains the input data, the data
lines directly follow the DATALINES statement. Because you can specify
DATALINES in the INFILE statement, you can take advantage of many
data-reading options that are available only through the INFILE statement.
The DLM= option specifies
the character that is used to separate data values in the input records.
By default, a blank space denotes the end of a data value. This option
is useful when you want to use list input to read data records in
which a character other than a blank separates data values.
INPUT variable <&><$>;
reads the input data
record using list input. The & (ampersand format modifier) enables
character values to contain embedded blanks. When you use the ampersand
format modifier, two blanks are required to signal the end of a data
value. The $ indicates a character variable.
INPUT variable start-column <– end-column>;
reads the input data
record using column input. You can omit end-column if the data is
only 1 byte long. This style of input enables you to skip columns
of data that you want to omit.
INPUT variable : informat;
INPUT variable & informat;
reads the input data
record using modified list input. The : (colon format modifier) instructs
SAS to use the informat that follows to read the data value. The &
(ampersand format modifier) instructs SAS to use the informat that
follows to read the data value. When you use the ampersand format
modifier, two blanks are required to signal the end of a data value.
INPUT <pointer-control> variable informat;
reads raw data using
formatted input. The informat supplies special instructions to read
the data. You can also use a pointer-control to direct SAS to start
reading at a particular column.
The syntax given above
for the three styles of input shows only one variable. Subsequent
variables in the INPUT statement might be described in the same input
style as the first one. You can use any of the three styles of input
(list, column, and formatted) in a single INPUT statement.