Where or If?

When is it most efficient to use a WHERE statement vs. a subsetting IF statement? The answer is (of course) it depends.

When subsetting from a large dataset, WHERE processing is usually more efficient because WHERE statements are evaluated before an observation is read into the program data vector. Subsetting IF statements test the condition after an observation is read into the program data vector.

However, you cannot use WHERE processing on anything other than a variable value that already exists.

Subsetting IF statements must be used in expressions that use:
• Values from raw data
• Values calculated or assigned during the course of the data step
• Automatic variables created in a data step (ex: first.variable , last.variable, _N_)

WHERE expression examples:
proc print data=work.enrollment;
where district='227913';
run;
proc print data=work.enrollment (where=(birthdate = '01SEP2000'D));
run;

proc sql;
select district, sum(students) as Students
from work.enrollment
where district='227901';
quit;