Statements

DATALINES;
indicates that data lines immediately follow the DATALINES statement. A
semicolon in the line that immediately follows the last data line indicates the end
of the data and causes the DATA step to compile and execute.
INFILE DATALINES DLM=’character’;
identifies the source of the input records as data lines in the job stream rather
than as an external file. When your program contains the input data, the data
lines directly follow the DATALINES statement. Because you can specify
DATALINES in the INFILE statement, you can take advantage of many
data-reading options that are available only through the INFILE statement.
The DLM= option specifies the character that is used to separate data values in
the input records. By default, a blank space denotes the end of a data value. This
option is useful when you want to use list input to read data records in which a
character other than a blank separates data values.
INPUT variable <&> <$>;
reads the input data record using list input. The & (ampersand format modifier)
enables character values to contain embedded blanks. When you use the
ampersand format modifier, two blanks are required to signal the end of a data
value. The $ indicates a character variable.
INPUT variable start-column <– end-column>;
reads the input data record using column input. You can omit end-column if the
data is only 1 byte long. This style of input enables you to skip columns of data
that you want to omit.
INPUT variable : informat;
INPUT variable & informat;
read the input data record using modified list input. The : (colon format modifier)
instructs SAS to use the informat that follows to read the data value. The &
(ampersand format modifier) instructs SAS to use the informat that follows to read
the data value. When you use the ampersand format modifier, two blanks are
required to signal the end of a data value.
INPUT <pointer-control> variable informat;
reads raw data using formatted input. The informat supplies special instructions
to read the data. You can also use a pointer-control to direct SAS to start reading
at a particular column.
The syntax given above for the three styles of input shows only one variable.
Subsequent variables in the INPUT statement may or may not be described in the
same input style as the first one. You may use any of the three styles of input
(list, column, and formatted) in a single INPUT statement.