How to Export Data from SAS to Excel (With Examples)

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You can use proc export to quickly export data from SAS to an Excel file.

This procedure uses the following basic syntax:

/*export data to file called my_data.xlsx*/
proc export data=my_data
    outfile="/home/u13181/my_data.xlsx"
    dbms=xlsx
    replace;
    sheet="First Data";
run;

Here’s what each line does:

• data: Name of dataset to export
• outfile: Location to export Excel file
• dmbs: File format to use for export
• replace: Replace the file if it already exists
• sheet: Name to display on sheet in Excel workbook

The following examples show how to use this function in practice.

Example 1: Export One Dataset to One Excel Sheet

Suppose we have the following dataset in SAS:

/*create dataset*/
data my_data;
    input A B C;
    datalines;
1 4 76
2 3 49
2 3 85
4 5 88
2 2 90
4 6 78
5 9 80
;
run;

/*view dataset*/
proc print data=my_data;

We can use the following code to export this dataset to an Excel file called my_data.xlsx:

/*export dataset*/
proc export data=my_data
    outfile="/home/u13181/my_data.xlsx"
    dbms=xlsx
    replace;
    sheet="First Data";
run;

I can then navigate to the location on my computer where I exported the file and view it in Excel:

The data in Excel matches the dataset from SAS and the sheet in the Excel workbook is called “First Data” just like I specified in the proc export statement.

Example 2: Export Multiple Datasets to Multiple Excel Sheets

Suppose we have two datasets in SAS:

/*create first dataset*/
data my_data;
    input A B C;
    datalines;
1 4 76
2 3 49
2 3 85
4 5 88
2 2 90
4 6 78
5 9 80
;
run;

/*create second dataset*/
data my_data2;
    input D E F;
    datalines;
1 4 90
2 3 49
2 3 85
4 5 88
2 1 90
;
run;

We can use the following code to export both datasets to the same Excel file in different sheets:

/*export first dataset to first sheet in Excel*/
proc export data=my_data
    outfile="/home/u13181/my_data.xlsx"
    dbms=xlsx
    replace;
    sheet="First Data";
run;

/*export second dataset to second sheet in Excel*/
proc export data=my_data2
    outfile="/home/u13181/my_data.xlsx"
    dbms=xlsx
    replace;
    sheet="Second Data";
run;

I can then navigate to the location on my computer where I exported the file and view it in Excel.

The first sheet titled “First Data” contains the first dataset:

And the second sheet titled “Second Data” contains the second dataset:

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in SAS:

How to Normalize Data in SAS
How to Rename Variables in SAS
How to Remove Duplicates in SAS
How to Replace Missing Values with Zero in SAS