SAS/ACCESS Interface to IMS-DL/I Software

Appending Data with the APPEND Procedure

You can append data described by SAS/ACCESS view descriptors and PROC SQL views to SAS data files and vice versa. You can also append data from one view descriptor to the data from another.

In the following example, two branch managers have kept separate records on customers' checking accounts. One manager has kept records in the CUSTOMER and CHCKACCT segments of the IMS-DL/I database ACCTDBD, described by the view descriptor VLIB.CHCKACCT. The other manager has kept records in a Version 7 SAS data set, MYDATA.CHECKS. Due to a corporate reorganization, the two sources of data must be combined so that all customer data are stored in the IMS-DL/I database ACCTDBD. A branch manager can use the APPEND procedure to perform this task, as the following example demonstrates.

The data described by the VLIB.CHCKACCT view descriptor and the data in the SAS data set MYDATA.CHECKS are displayed in Data Described by the VLIB.CHCKACCT View Descriptor and Data in the MYDATA.CHECKS Data Set.

options linesize=120;

   proc print data=vlib.chckacct;
      title2 'Data Described by VLIB.CHCKACCT';
   run;

   proc print data=mydata.checks;
      title2 'Data in MYDATA.CHECKS Data Set';
   run;

Note: To use PROC APPEND, you must use a view descriptor that describes the entire path of data from the root segment down to the level where you want to append data. If a parent segment already exists with a key value equal to that specified in the input data set, the IMS-DL/I engine inserts the remaining path of data under the parent segment. [cautionend]

Data Described by the VLIB.CHCKACCT View Descriptor

The SAS System Data Described by VLIB.CHCKACCT SOC_SEC_ CHECK_ACCOUNT_ CHECK_ CHECK_ OBS NUMBER CUSTOMER_NAME NUMBER DATE BALANCE 1 667-73-8275 WALLS, HOOPER J. 345620145345 15MAR95 1266.34 2 667-73-8275 WALLS, HOOPER J. 345620154633 28MAR95 1298.04 3 434-62-1234 SUMMERS, MARY T. 345620104732 27MAR95 825.45 4 436-42-6394 BOOKER, APRIL M. 345620135872 26MAR95 234.89 5 434-62-1224 SMITH, JAMES MARTIN 345620134564 16MAR95 2645.34 6 434-62-1224 SMITH, JAMES MARTIN 345620134663 24MAR95 143.78 7 178-42-6534 PATTILLO, RODRIGUES 745920057114 10JUN95 1502.78 8 156-45-5672 O'CONNOR, JOSEPH 345620123456 27MAR95 463.23 9 657-34-3245 BARNHARDT, PAMELA S. 345620131455 29MAR95 1243.25 10 667-82-8275 COHEN, ABRAHAM 382957492811 03APR95 7302.06 11 456-45-3462 LITTLE, NANCY M. 345620134522 25MAR95 831.65

Data in the MYDATA.CHECKS Data Set

The SAS System Data in MYDATA.CHECKS Data Set check_ soc_sec_ account_ check_ check_ OBS customer_name number number balance date 1 COWPER, KEITH 241-98-4542 183352795865 862.31 25MAR95 2 OLSZEWSKI, STUART 309-22-4573 382654397566 486.00 02APR95 3 NAPOLITANO, BARBARA 250-36-8831 284522378774 104.20 10APR95 4 MCCALL, ROBERT 367-34-1543 644721295973 571.92 05APR95

The manager can combine the data from these two sources using the APPEND procedure, as shown in the following example:

proc append base=vlib.chckacct data=mydata.checks;
   run;

   proc print data=vlib.chckacct;
     title2 'Appended Data';
   run;

   proc sql;
     delete from vlib.account
     where soc_sec_number in( '241-98-4542'
                              '250-36-8831'
                              '309-22-4573'
                              '367-34-1543' )
   run;

The database type determines where the segments are inserted. In this case, the database type is not an indexed database type, so the data in MYDATA.CHECKS are intermixed with the data described by VLIB.CHCKACCT. Appended Data displays the updated data described by the view descriptor, VLIB.CHCKACCT.

Appended Data

The SAS System Appended Data SOC_SEC_ CHECK_ACCOUNT_ CHECK_ CHECK_ OBS NUMBER CUSTOMER_NAME NUMBER DATE BALANCE 1 667-73-8275 WALLS, HOOPER J. 345620145345 15MAR95 1266.34 2 667-73-8275 WALLS, HOOPER J. 345620154633 28MAR95 1298.04 3 434-62-1234 SUMMERS, MARY T. 345620104732 27MAR95 825.45 4 250-36-8831 NAPOLITANO, BARBARA 284522378774 10APR95 104.20 5 241-98-4542 COWPER, KEITH 183352795865 25MAR95 862.31 6 436-42-6394 BOOKER, APRIL M. 345620135872 26MAR95 234.89 7 434-62-1224 SMITH, JAMES MARTIN 345620134564 16MAR95 2645.34 8 434-62-1224 SMITH, JAMES MARTIN 345620134663 24MAR95 143.78 9 178-42-6534 PATTILLO, RODRIGUES 745920057114 10JUN95 1502.78 10 367-34-1543 MCCALL, ROBERT 644721295973 05APR95 571.92 11 156-45-5672 O'CONNOR, JOSEPH 345620123456 27MAR95 463.23 12 657-34-3245 BARNHARDT, PAMELA S. 345620131455 29MAR95 1243.25 13 667-82-8275 COHEN, ABRAHAM 382957492811 03APR95 7302.06 14 456-45-3462 LITTLE, NANCY M. 345620134522 25MAR95 831.65 15 309-22-4573 OLSZEWSKI, STUART 382654397566 02APR95 486.00

Note: The APPEND procedure issues a warning message when a variable in the view descriptor does not have a corresponding variable in the input data set. [cautionend]

The PROC SQL code deletes the appended data so the next PROC APPEND example will work without reinitializing the database.

You can use the APPEND procedure's FORCE option to force PROC APPEND to concatenate two data sets that have different variables or variable attributes.

The APPEND procedure also accepts a SAS WHERE statement to retrieve a subset of the data. In the following example, a subset of the observations from the DATA= data set is added to the BASE= data set.

proc append base=vlib.chckacct data=mydata.checks
  (where=(check_date >='26MAR95'd));
run;

proc print data=vlib.chckacct;
  title2 'Appended Data with a WHERE Data Set 
          Option';
run;

Note that the WHERE data set option applies only to the DATA= data set. Appended Data with a WHERE Data Set Option displays the results.

Appended Data with a WHERE Data Set Option

The SAS System Appended Data with a WHERE= Data Set Option SOC_SEC_ CHECK_ACCOUNT_ CHECK_ CHECK_ OBS NUMBER CUSTOMER_NAME NUMBER DATE BALANCE 1 667-73-8275 WALLS, HOOPER J. 345620145345 15MAR95 1266.34 2 667-73-8275 WALLS, HOOPER J. 345620154633 28MAR95 1298.04 3 434-62-1234 SUMMERS, MARY T. 345620104732 27MAR95 825.45 4 250-36-8831 NAPOLITANO, BARBARA 284522378774 10APR95 104.20 5 436-42-6394 BOOKER, APRIL M. 345620135872 26MAR95 234.89 6 434-62-1224 SMITH, JAMES MARTIN 345620134564 16MAR95 2645.34 7 434-62-1224 SMITH, JAMES MARTIN 345620134663 24MAR95 143.78 8 178-42-6534 PATTILLO, RODRIGUES 745920057114 10JUN95 1502.78 9 367-34-1543 MCCALL, ROBERT 644721295973 05APR95 571.92 10 156-45-5672 O'CONNOR, JOSEPH 345620123456 27MAR95 463.23 11 657-34-3245 BARNHARDT, PAMELA S. 345620131455 29MAR95 1243.25 12 667-82-8275 COHEN, ABRAHAM 382957492811 03APR95 7302.06 13 456-45-3462 LITTLE, NANCY M. 345620134522 25MAR95 831.65 14 309-22-4573 OLSZEWSKI, STUART 382654397566 02APR95 486.00

Note that the IMS-DL/I engine has no way to determine how large a database is. Therefore, if you use the APPEND procedure to add a database to itself, a loop can result. For more information on the APPEND procedure, see "The APPEND Procedure" in the SAS Procedures Guide.

Chapter Contents
Previous
Next
Top of Page