Can you use an IF statement in a PROC step in SAS?

In SAS, PROC steps are typically designed to perform specific analytical or reporting tasks, and they do not support the use of IF statements for conditional processing directly within the procedure itself. The recommended approach to subset data in PROC steps is to use the WHERE statement, which efficiently filters observations before the procedure executes.

The WHERE statement is particularly advantageous because it allows for data subsetting at the dataset level prior to the execution of the procedure, ensuring optimal performance and clarity in the resulting output.

While there are some exceptions where specific procedures may allow conditional logic within the DATA step prior to invoking a PROC step, the general rule is that IF statements aren't valid syntax inside most PROC statements. This reinforces the importance of recognizing the fundamental differences between DATA steps and PROC steps in SAS programming practices.