Unix SAS Quickstart
The purpose of this document is to get you up and running Unix SAS quickly,
and
ready to begin learning to use SAS statistical software.
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 an X-terminal in the math lab (SH 306), you will be on the
server rational, which runs Unix SAS 8.1.
However, the stat
labs will be held in KH 207 which has networked PCs. In order to
access Unix machines from those PCs, you must use the
X-windows emulation program X-Win32. Steps a-c below tell how to
use X-Win32 to log in to the Unix server parabola.
-
- a. Log in to the PC. To do this, you will
need an account on the WPI PC network.
- b. Access X-Win32. Click on
the Start button in the lower left corner
of the screen then click on Programs ->
X-Win32 5.3 -> X-Win32.
- c. Start the Unix session. Click on the blue
'X' in the system tray (lower right corner of
the screen). In the popup window, click on
parabola.
You will now see the login screen for the Unix host parabola. Log in
using your Unix user id and password.
Another computer that
runs Unix SAS 8.1 is mathlab.
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. Part 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 January 1 and March 31
inclusive, do a. Otherwise do b.
- a. Type
> /math/mathlab/bin/sasetup8a
(NOTE: (1) The ">" is the prompt supplied by the computer; you just
type the "/math/mathlab/bin/sasetup8a" part and hit <enter>.
(2) Recently, Unix has begun displaying a warning when the above
command is entered. This warning does not seem to affect the
functioning of SAS. (3) To see if you have done this step
successfully, type ls at the Unix prompt. This will list
the files in your home directory. If the files SAS,
autoexec.sas800, and sasv8.cfg are listed, you have done this step
successfully.)
- 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>.
(2) Recently, Unix has begun displaying a warning when the above
command is entered. This warning does not seem to affect the
functioning of SAS. (3) To see if you have done this step
successfully, type ls at the Unix prompt. This will list
the files in your home directory. If the files SAS,
autoexec.sas800, and sasv8.cfg are listed, you have done this step
successfully.)
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 (Unfortunately, SAS has two types of printing, which
involve two configurations: printing from the SAS Output Window and graphs from
SAS/INSIGHT is one type, and printing from the SAS
Graphics Window is the other. 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: 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:
/usr/local/bin/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.
NOTICE Recently, a change was made to the way Unix printing is
handled at WPI. Unfortunately, this has affected printing from
SAS. You should not try to print graphs from SAS, but instead save any
needed graphs to files for later printing or inclusion in other
documents such as lab reports. A description of how to save SAS graphs
to files is found at Saving/Printing SAS Graphs.
Step 5: 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 6: 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.
NOTICE Recently, a change was made to the way Unix printing is handled at
WPI. Unfortunately, this has affected printing from SAS. A work-around
is to save any needed graphs to files for later printing or inclusion
in other documents such as lab reports. A description of how to save
SAS graphs to files is found at
Saving/Printing SAS Graphs.
Read the instructions given below on Printing from the GRAPHICS
window, but do not print the graph. Instead use the instructions
contained in Saving/Printing SAS
Graphs to save the graph to a file.
- a. Generate a graph by running the program PLOT_EG from SAS/EIS.
(From the menu bar of any of the original SAS windows, choose
Solutions:EIS/OLAP Application Builder:Applications:
Run private application...:PLOT_EG).
- b. A graphics window will appear with a graph in it.
- c. Click on File:Print from the graphics window.
- d. 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).
- e. Click OK, and see what gets printed.
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, in the document An
Introduction to SAS/EIS.
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 the section
Creating New Data in the document An Introduction to
SAS/INSIGHT I: Elementary Concepts.
- 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.
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.
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 parabola. 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/local/bin/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.
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.
You are now ready to begin the SAS tutorials.
Intro page.
Introduction to SAS/EIS, which you'll use to run SAS macros (programs)
for labs and specialized applications.
Introduction to SAS/INSIGHT I: Elementary Concepts. This is the
minimal tutorial you should do to be familiar with the basics of
SAS/INSIGHT, a graphically-oriented data analysis system
Introduction to SAS/INSIGHT II: Advanced Concepts. This tutorial will
show you some of the more advanced features of SAS/INSIGHT
Getting Started in the Statistics Multimedia Computer Classroom. (for new users)
Joe Petruccelli < jdp@wpi.edu>
Last modified: Tue Jun 3 16:27:23 EDT 2003