An Introduction to UNIX SAS Version 8.1 at WPI

About This Document

This document has several purposes:

• To get novice users of SAS statistical software in the Unix environment up and running as quickly as possible.
• To impart basic proficiency in the use of SAS statistical software.
• To serve as an introduction to the computing environment at WPI in general, and particularly to the Statistics Multimedia Computer Classroom in KH 207 (known in the rest of this document by its alias, "the stat lab").
• To introduce Unix computing at WPI.

Unix SAS Update and Quickstart contains information on the latest changes in Unix SAS software and its implementation at WPI. By following the steps in this section, new users will configure their Unix accounts for running SAS and accessing SAS data sets and macros used in statistics course work at WPI.

WPI is currently running release 8.1 of SAS. An Introduction to SAS/EIS and An Introduction to SAS/INSIGHT I: Elementary Concepts are tutorials designed to introduce the novice SAS user to two components of SAS statistical software: SAS/INSIGHT, a graphical environment for interactive data analysis, and SAS/EIS, a component of SAS that is used as an interface between the user and a set of SAS programs, called macros, that are used in statistics courses at WPI. Users who want to do more with SAS/INSIGHT are invited to the continuation of the tutorial found at An Introduction to SAS/INSIGHT II: Advanced Concepts.

 

Unix SAS Update and Quickstart

The purpose of this section is to get you up and running quickly, and ready to begin learning to use SAS statistical software. Unix SAS is available on many DEC Alpha servers on campus, including statlab, mathlab, wpi, and reno. It may be accessed on these machines from any workstation, X-terminal or PC on the WPI network.

Unix Update

Unix is the operating system used on workstations at WPI. For those of you familiar with PCs, Unix is to workstations what DOS (or Windows NT or 2000) is to PCs. Users unfamiliar with Unix will find links to introductory information in the Basic Unix Information. section of this document.

Unix SAS Quickstart

In order to run SAS version 8.1 as supported at WPI, you need to (1) copy several files into your home directory and (2) configure SAS for printing and accessing macros. The following eight steps will accomplish (1) and (2).

Step 1: Log in to a computer that runs Unix SAS 8.1. If you log in from the stat lab, you will be on the server statlab, which runs Unix SAS 8.1. Other computers that run Unix SAS 8.1 include mathlab, wpi, and reno. If you are logging in from a PC, you must use an X-Windows emulator such as PC-Xware.

Step 2: Copy SAS configuration files. In this step, you will copy three files to your home directory. These files will (1) initialize Unix SAS to allow you to find existing libraries of SAS data files, (2) set graphics parameters, and (3) set up your default printer. About half of the class (determined by birth date) will be asked to copy one set of files and the rest of the class will be asked to copy another set. The first set of files assigns one of the printers in the KH 207 as default for printing from the SAS Graphics Window, and the other set assigns the second printer. This procedure will help to avoid long waits for printed output. The section Changing Your Graphics Printer, found later in this document, tells how to change your default printer for printing from the SAS Graphics Window.

If your birthday is between the dates July 1 and December 31 inclusive, do a. Otherwise do b.

a. Type

> /math/mathlab/bin/sasetup8a

(NOTE: the ">" is the prompt supplied by the computer; you just type the "/math/mathlab/bin/sasetup8a" part and hit <enter>.) If the computer responds with anything other than just the prompt, you've probably done this step incorrectly and you should seek help.

b. Type

> /math/mathlab/bin/sasetup8b

(Note: the ">" is the prompt supplied by the computer; you just type the "/math/mathlab/bin/sasetup8b" part and hit <enter>.) If the computer responds with anything other than just the prompt, you've probably done this step incorrectly and you should seek help.

Step 3: Start SAS. You are now ready to access Unix SAS 8.1. To start Unix SAS, type

> sas &

(NOTE: the ">" is the prompt supplied by the computer; you just type the "sas &" part and hit <enter>.)

Step 4: Set up SAS Printing You now need to configure SAS to print text from the SAS Output Window and graphs from SAS/INSIGHT (in Step 2, you configured printing from the SAS Graphics Window).

There are two printers in the stat lab. Their names are stat1 and stat2. We recommend that you set up printing for both, so that you can direct output to the less busy one (or the one that hasn't run out of paper). Follow the steps below to set up printing for one of them, and then repeat the instructions with appropriate changes to set up printing for the other. Items a.-c. below will will set up printing to one printer, and will enable you to print to that printer from from the EDITOR, OUTPUT, LOG, or RESULTS windows as well as from SAS/INSIGHT. You will have to do these items a second time to set up printing to both stat1 and stat2.

The same steps will set up printing from the two printers in the math lab in SH 306: math3 and math3b.

a. Choose either the EDITOR, OUTPUT, LOG, or RESULTS window.

b. From the chosen window, click on File: Print Setup.

c. A SAS: Print Setup window will appear. Click on New. You will have to navigate through a sequence of five dialog boxes. Respond to them as follows:

Box 1: Give a name to identify the printer: stat1 or stat2. Click Next.

Box 2: Select the model to be HP LaserJet 4 PCL. Click Next.

Box 3: Tell where to route the output.

i. First select Device type Pipe.

ii. Then give a path to the printer:

• If you defined stat1 as the printer in Box 1, the path is /usr/ucb/lpr -h -Pstat1
• If you defined stat2 as the printer in Box 1, the path is /usr/ucb/lpr -h -Pstat2

Click Next

Box 4: Leave the previewer input field blank. Click Next.

Box 5: Click Finish.

To exit the setup, click OK.

Step 5: Practice printing from the GRAPHICS window. Some graphical output, such as those produced by macros you will use in labs, is displayed in the SAS/Graphics window. Printing from this window requires no new setup, but is a little different than printing from the other windows or from SAS/INSIGHT. The following will take you through the steps needed to print from the graphics window.

a. Generate a graphics window by clicking on View: Graph from any of the original SAS windows. (Note: In real applications, the graphics window will appear automatically with a graph in it.)

b. If a window appears with the words Catalog not found. Do you want to create it? click on Yes.

c. A graphics window will appear.

d. Click on File:Print from the graphics window.

e. A SAS Print dialog box will appear. Make sure Use SAS/Graph Drivers is selected. There will be a Driver selection window immediately below. Clicking on the triangle to the right will display a list of drivers. If you want to print your graph in portrait mode, select the driver PS (PostScript devices) from the list. If you want to print your graph in landscape mode, select PSLL (PostScript devices-landscape n).

f. At this point, if you were really printing a graph, you would click OK, but for the purposes of this tutorial, just click Cancel

When printing from the graphics window, you will always have to go through steps d.-f.

You cannot change your printer at the SAS/GRAPHICS window, as you can in SAS/INSIGHT, or in the other SAS windows. Directions for changing your printer for printing from the SAS/GRAPHICS window are found in the section Changing Your Graphics Printer.

Step 6: Set up EIS applications.

1. Choose Solutions:EIS/OLAP Application Builder from the menu bar on any of the original SAS windows (PROGRAM EDITOR, LOG, OUTPUT, RESULTS or EXPLORER).

2. From the resulting window, select Applications.

3. A small SAS/EIS: Applications window will appear. Click on Set applications....

4. A SAS/EIS: Set Applications window will appear. Click on Primary private application....

5. A SAS/EIS: Primary Private Application window will appear. Click on the Library: field and input eisapps, then hit the tab key. In the Application database: field input eisapp, then hit return. Click on OK, and then Goback twice. This returns you to the SAS/EIS main menu.

6. Close the SAS:EIS window by choosing File: Close.

Note: You have to do this setup only once, ever.

Step 7: Access SAS/INSIGHT. From the menu bar on any of the original SAS windows select Solutions: Analysis: Interactive Data Analysis. A SAS: SAS/INSIGHT: Open window will appear.

If you want to key in a set of data, select New. A blank SAS/INSIGHT spreadsheet will appear. For details on entering data into SAS/INSIGHT, see An Introduction to SAS/INSIGHT.

If you want to read an existing SAS data set into SAS/INSIGHT for analysis, select Open. This will bring up a dialog box with choices for SAS data libraries. Among these are:

o The WORK library. This is the temporary library. All SAS data sets in this area will be erased when you finish your SAS session.

o The SASUSER library. This is your personal permanent library.

o The SASDATA library. This is a permanent library of data sets which are accessible to all users. Data for homework assignments will often be found in the SASDATA library.

Step 8: Log out of SAS. When you are finished with your SAS session, please log out of SAS. You may do this by using the "SAS Session Management" icon located on your desktop. Double clicking on this icon, or clicking once on this icon and then on "Restore", will produce the SAS Session Management window. Click on the "terminate" box in the SAS Session Management window to terminate your session.

Other Important Stuff

Where to learn more about SAS

For those of you taking a statistics course, your instructor and TA are primary sources for information about SAS. Another resource is email to ma-questions.

All SAS documentation is available online at http://www.math.wpi.edu/saspdf in the form of pdf files. For those of you taking the introductory courses, MA 2611/12, the only one of these documents likely to be of interest or use is the SAS/INSIGHT User's Guide.

So SAS isn't behaving, and you don't know why?

In general, SAS is a pretty reliable program, but there are times when it just seems to have behavior problems. By behavior problems, we don't mean things you may have done, like click on the wrong button, or input the wrong type of response in a macro (like 37.5 when a Y/N was asked for). We mean really strange unexplained phenomena, like the recent example of a student who typed sas & at the unix prompt and got the message

ERROR: Generic critical error.

and no SAS windows. Only when she typed sas & a second time did the SAS windows appear. In cases like these, you can try a number of approaches, among them:

a. If you are doing a lab, flag down a TA.

b. Send a message to ma-questions.

c. If host printing is giving you troubles, try the following:

i. Make sure the printer that it selected is the one you are trying to print to.

ii. If trying to print to stat1 or stat2, make sure you are running SAS from statlab. The printers stat1 and stat2 cannot be accessed from most other computers.

iii. Check the print setup to make sure you have selected the proper destination for the printer (e.g., /usr/ucb/lpr -h -Pstat1 (or -Pstat2)), and that the device type is Pipe.

d. Finally, if all else fails,

i. Exit SAS.

ii. Delete your profile file (the file profile.sas7bcat in the directory /home/yourid/sasuser.800).

iii. Restart SAS.

Bailing out

Sometimes you run a SAS program or procedure that you realize is both wrong (perhaps you gave it a wrong input) and long. To bail out of the program or procedure, you can use the "SAS Session Management" icon (the one on your desktop with the lightning bolt). Clicking on this icon will produce the SAS Session Management window. Click on the "interrupt" box in the window to stop the program or procedure without ending your SAS session. When all else fails, click on "terminate" to bail out of SAS.

Where Next?

You are now ready to begin the SAS tutorial.

Introduction to SAS/EIS, which you'll use to run SAS macros (programs) for labs and specialized applications.

Introduction to SAS/INSIGHT, a graphically-oriented data analysis system

An overview of the Statistics Multimedia Computer Classroom. (for new users)

An overview of the Unix operating system (for new users).

Last modified: Fri Jul 27 15:09:17 EDT 2001