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SAS is a powerful statistical software package that allows users to easily merge two data sets based on two variables. This can be done by using the merge statement, followed by the data set names and the two variables to be used for the merge. The output of the merge will be a new data set that contains all the variables from both the original data sets. This makes it easy to compare and analyze data from two different sources.
You can use the following basic syntax to merge two datasets in SAS based on two variables matching:
data final_data;
merge data1 (in = a) data2 (in = b);
by ID Store;
if a and b;
run;
This particular example merges the datasets called data1 and data2 based on the variables called ID and Store and only returns the rows where a value exists in both datasets.
The following example shows how to use this syntax in practice.
Example: Merge Datasets in SAS Based on Two Variables
Suppose we have the following dataset in SAS that contains information about sales associates at some company:
/*create first dataset*/
data data1;
input ID Store $;
datalines;
1 A
1 B
1 C
2 A
2 C
3 A
3 B
;
run;
/*view first dataset*/
title "data1";
proc print data = data1;
And suppose we have another dataset that contains information about the sales made at various stores by each associate:
/*create second dataset*/
data data2;
input ID Store $ Sales;
datalines;
1 A 22
1 B 25
2 A 40
2 B 24
2 C 29
3 A 12
3 B 15
;
run;
/*view second dataset*/
title "data2";
proc print data = data2;
We can use the following merge statement to merge the two datasets based on matching values in the ID and Store columns, then only return rows where a value exists in both columns:
/*perform merge*/
data final_data;
merge data1 (in = a) data2 (in = b);
by ID Store;
if a and b;
run;
/*view results*/
title "final_data";
proc print data=final_data;
The resulting dataset returns the rows where the values in the ID and Store columns both match.
Note: You can find the complete documentation for the SAS merge statement .