SAS “behind the scenes”

Below is a description of very useful options in SAS, if you want a look “behind the scenes” and see what SAS actually does when processing data.

options fullstimer sastrace=(,,,d) sastraceloc=saslog mprint source2 nostsuffix;
fullstimer The SAS System provides the FULLSTIMER option to collect performance statistics on each SAS step, and for the job as a whole and place them in the SAS log. It is important to note that the FULLSTIMER measures only give you a snapshot view of performance at the step and job level.
sastrace=(,,,d) Generates trace information from a DBMS engine.

‘,,,d’ specifies that all SQL statements that are sent to the DBMS are sent to the log. Here are the applicable statements:
SELECT
DELETE
CREATE
SYSTEM
CATALOG
DROP
COMMIT
INSERT
ROLLBACK
UPDATE
For engines that do not generate SQL statements, API calls and all parameters are sent to the log.

sastraceloc=saslog Prints SASTRACE information to a specified location.
In this case the log in SAS.
mprint Specifies whether SAS statements generated by macro execution are traced for debugging.
source2 Specifies whether SAS writes secondary source statements from included files to the SAS log.

SOURCE2 specifies to write to the SAS log secondary source statements from files that have been included by %INCLUDE statements.

nostsuffix The NOSTSUFFIX system option suppresses printing or display of trailing SASTRACE information and makes the SASTRACE log easier to read.

One thought on “SAS “behind the scenes””

  1. I am not a developer and this explanation was so refreshing! Written for anyone to understand and I thank you!

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