Making an empty dataset in SAS

The code below shows you how to make an empty dataset in SAS.
If you omit the if-sentence and below, then you will get an empty row in the dataset.

data StatusTable;
 length Dataset $100 Message $150 Status $10;
 call missing(Dataset, Message, Status);
 if _N_ = 0 then output;
 stop;
run;

This can also be done a bit easier in SQL.

proc sql noprint;
create table Dataset
(
Dataset char 100,
Message char 150,
Status char 10
);
quit;

3 thoughts on “Making an empty dataset in SAS”

jimmy says:

November 17, 2014 at 3:58 pm

Ummm, wouldn’t this code be more straightforward?

data StatusTable;
length Dataset $100 Message $150 Status $10;
stop;
run;

At the top of the processing loop, SAS creates the empty dataset, ready to be written to, and automatically fills the PDV with missing values. The STOP statement keeps SAS from writing anything into the dataset, leaving it empty.

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Venky says:

April 6, 2016 at 3:09 pm

proc sql;
create table want
as
select * from have where 1=2;
quit;

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Joe Gibson says:

May 29, 2017 at 3:34 pm

You can use a WHERE that is always false to limit the output to zero observations:

data StatusTable(WHERE=(1=0));
length Dataset $100 Message $150 Status $10;
call missing(Dataset, Message, Status);
run;

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