SAS hash objects are super fast in-memory technic allowing you to perform join operation, lookup, data check (etc.) this technic can be used on datasets but also when flat files are read allowing you to do data validation during the load phase of your data.

In this tips and tricks, we will first talk about SAS in-memory technics: arrays, formats and hash object will be briefly described in terms of their utilization. Then we will dive into Hash Object:

• What is a Hash Object?
• What is the syntax of an Hash Object?
• How can we load values in the Hash Object? (manually or from dataset)
• How can we call a Hash Object?

In a second step, we will apply the syntax of the hash object during the read phase of a CSV. The idea behind will be to validate the data (compared to a reference table loaded in memory) and to output records to an error table if they don't meet acceptance criteria.

You have some SAS experience and would like to validate your data against reference table using Hash Object.