compile time statements and execution time statements in SAS

Corresponding to the two phases of the DATA step, there are two types of DATA step statements:

compile time statements and execution time statements

As their names suggest compile time statements do their work at compile time and execution statements do their work during the execution of the DATA step.

Some examples of execution time statements are:

• Assignment statements (variable = value;).

• If-then/else statements.

• Do loops.

• Generally any statement which relies upon the values of variables stored in the PDV.

Some examples of compile time statements are:

• Retain statement.

• Array declarations.

• Drop statement.

• Keep statement.

• Rename statement.