Question

Is there an equivalent to EXPLAIN in SAS Proc SQL? From Google searches I’ve done, it doesn’t seem like it.

Actually, what I really need to know is how to tell if an index was used during a JOIN or which index the query ended up using.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

OPTIONS MSGLEVEL=I;
will tell you when an index is used (and which), for SQL or data step.

Example:

data class(index=(sex));
set sashelp.class;
run;
options msglevel=i;
proc sql feedback;
select * from class where sex='M';
quit;

FEEDBACK and STIMER are useful PROC SQL options that will also give you more information about the query you wrote ( http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/sqlproc/62086/HTML/default/viewer.htm#a001360938.htm)

Edit:
https://communities.sas.com/thread/14072?start=0&tstart=0

Apparently there IS an explain option, though it’s undocumented and still a work in progress. See the link for more details.