- a single measurement or piece of information; e.g., the name, height, or weight of an individual.
- a set of data values for a single individual or thing; a single source of data values; e.g., a person, company, city.
- a set of data values for a single measurement; e.g., the heights of all students in a class, annual rainfalls for cities in the tri-state area.
- the term or name associated with the values for a specific variable in a data set. SAS uses variable names to keep track of information for each variable.
- a two-dimensional array of numbers; a collection of observations; e.g., the physical measurements for all students in a class. A raw data set may exist in many different forms including hand-written data sheets or a 'flat' file on a computer.
- a collection of observations that has been passed through a SAS data step and converted to a type of 'machine code' that the SAS Procedures can access. SAS data sets include all of the data values read in from the raw data set plus the descriptive information like variable names, labels, and formats that are incorporated during the execution of the data step.
- "Permanent" SAS Data Set
- a SAS data set that has been saved to disk or tape for future use. Permanent SAS data sets are created using a two-level name.
- "Temporary" SAS Data Set
- a SAS data set that has been saved to disk or tape for the duration of the currently executing program ONLY. They are created using one-level names.
