Scripting Guide - SAS

170 Data Structures Chapter 7
Associative Arrays
Create an associative array from two column references. The first column contains the keys and the second
contains the values.
map = Associative Array(:name, :height);
Create an associative array from two column references with a default value:
map = Associative Array(:name, :height, .);
Create an associative array from a single list of keys or a single column reference of keys with a default value
of 0:
set = Associative Array({"yes", "no"});
set = Associative Array(:name);
Work with Associative Arrays
Find the Number of Keys
To determine the number of keys that an associative array contains, use the N Items() function.
cary = Associative Array();
cary["state"] = "NC";
cary["population"] = 116234;
cary["weather"] = "cloudy";
cary["population"] += 10;
cary["weather"] = "sunny";
cary["high schools"] = {"Cary", "Green Hope", "Panther Creek"};
N Items(cary);
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Add and Delete Keys and Values
To add or delete key-value pairs from an associative array, use the following functions:
• Insert()
• Insert Into()
• Remove()
• Remove From()
Note the following:
• Insert() and Remove() return a named copy of the given associative array with the key-value pair
added or removed.
• Insert Into() and Remove From() add or remove the key-value pairs directly from the given
associative array.
• Insert() and Insert Into() take three arguments: the associative array, a key, and a value.
• Remove() and Remove From() take two arguments: the associative array and a key.
• If you insert a key with no value provided, the key is assigned a value of 1.