%******************************************************************************;
%** http://www.info-net.nl                                                   **;
%******************************************************************************;
%* Topic         : SAS Base                                                   *;
%* Program       : Create an empty dataset                                    *;
%* Author        : Raymond Ebben                                              *;
%* Location      : http://www.info-net.nl/index/sas-coding/sas-base           *;
%* Date          : January 2006                                               *;
%* Version       : 1.0                                                        *;
%* Description   : This program illustrates three examples of how to create   *;
%*                 an empty dataset                                           *;
%******************************************************************************;
%* In datasets   : None                                                       *;
%* In macrovars  : None                                                       *;
%* In files      : None                                                       *;
%* Out datasets  : work.newdataset                                            *;
%* Out macrovars : None                                                       *;
%* Out files     : None                                                       *;
%******************************************************************************;
%** Version control                                                          **;
%******************************************************************************;
%* Mod * Ver. * Date      *  Description                                      *;
%******************************************************************************;
%******************************************************************************;
 
%******************************************************************************;
%* Create an empty dataset using the SAS dataset                              *;
%******************************************************************************;
data work.newdataset;
  length numvar1 8 name $10 date date2 8;
  format date
         date2 date9.;
  label numvar1 ='Num. variable                  '
        name    ='Char. variable with length 20  '
        date    ='Num. variable with date9 format'
        date2   ='Num. variable with date9 format';
  /* Make sure that no records will be outputted */
  stop;
run;
 
%******************************************************************************;
%* Create an empty dataset using the structure of an existing dataset as a    *;
%* template                                                                   *;
%******************************************************************************;
data work.newdataset;
  set sashelp.class;
  /* Make sure that no records will be outputted */
  stop;
run;
 
%******************************************************************************;
%* Create an empty dataset using proc sql to set up a structure               *;
%******************************************************************************;
proc sql noprint;
  create table work.newdataset
  (
  /*varname type size format        label                                 */
    numvar1 num                     label='Num. variable                  ',
    name    char (10)               label='Char. variable with length 20  ',
    date    num       format=date9. label='Num. variable with date9 format',
    date2   num       format=date9. label='Num. variable with date9 format'
   );
quit;

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