Base SAS Course

Master Base SAS in just 7 days

BASE SAS

Comprehensively crafted Base SAS course for students and professionals—featuring real-world examples and hands-on exercises to ensure deep understanding of core concepts.

Day 0 – Getting Started with SAS

Goal: Familiarize with the SAS environment and set up the platform.

  • What is SAS? Why is it used?

  • Applications in healthcare, finance, marketing, etc.

  • Types of SAS platforms: SAS Studio, SAS OnDemand, SAS Enterprise Guide

Hands-on:

  • Create a SAS Academic profile

  • Set up SAS OnDemand for Academics

  • Explore the SAS Studio interface

  • Navigate libraries and folders

Day 1 – Data Step Basics

Goal: Understand how to create, read, and modify data in SAS.

  • Structure of a SAS program (DATA and PROC steps)

  • Creating datasets with DATA step

  • Input styles: List, Column, and Formatted

Hands-on:

  • Create a dataset manually using DATALINES

  • Read data from an external file (CSV)

Day 2 – Data Inspection and Summary

Goal: Explore datasets using PROC steps.

  • PROC PRINT, PROC CONTENTS, and PROC MEANS

  • Understanding descriptors vs. data portion

  • Variable types: Numeric vs. Character

Hands-on:

  • Display and summarize data

  • Use LABEL, FORMAT, and TITLE statements

Day 3 – Data Manipulation

Goal: Modify data values and structure.

  • Creating new variables with IF, ELSE, and WHERE

  • Using assignment and conditional logic

  • Combining datasets: SET, MERGE, BY

Hands-on:

  • Create derived variables

  • Combine multiple datasets

Day 4 – Formats, Informats & SAS Functions

Goal: Format data and perform transformations.

  • Difference between formats and informats

  • Date and time functions (TODAY(), INTNX(), INTCK())

  • Character functions (SUBSTR, UPCASE, SCAN)

  • Numeric functions (SUM, ROUND, MEAN)

Hands-on:

  • Convert character to date using informat

  • Format values for better readability

Day 5 – Data Sorting and Filtering

Goal: Organize and extract subsets of data.

  • PROC SORT with BY and NODUPKEY

  • Subsetting with WHERE and IF

  • Removing duplicates

Hands-on:

  • Sort data and extract top/bottom records

  • Filter based on multiple conditions

Day 6 – Reporting and Exporting

Goal: Generate and export summary reports.

  • PROC FREQ, PROC REPORT, PROC TABULATE

  • Exporting data to Excel, CSV

  • Creating simple plots with PROC SGPLOT

Hands-on:

  • Frequency tables and cross-tabulations

  • Export final dataset to Excel

Day 7 – Project Day: Apply What You Learned

Goal: Work on a real-world dataset end-to-end.

  • Import a real dataset (e.g., student scores, patient records)

  • Clean, transform, analyze, and report

  • Create a final PDF or Excel report

Bonus:

  • Tips for SAS certification

  • Sample interview questions

Base SAS Course