SAS Enterprise Guide: Quick Tip for Selecting Text in Columns
Earlier in the week I discussed how I used Google Analytics to help me discover topics of the most interest. SAS Enterprise Guide was a popular topic, so here’s a quick tip that I like to use when working with text in columns.
Moving Text around in SAS Enterprise Guide
When it comes to data entry, I can assure you that I put the “Z” in lazzzzzzzzzzzzzy. Blech, I hate it more than pie charts. It’s the first thing I’ll have my home robot do when they finally become as normal as a refrigerator. So here’s a tip to save you some keystrokes. When you copy text in SAS EG, you generally have to copy entire rows, but sometimes you just need a list of variable names or the variable values.
When you need to copy a column of data, do the following:
- Hold the ALT key while clicking and dragging to select the column. The column turns blue so you know it works.
- Press Ctrl+C to copy the column.
- Click where you want to place the text and press Ctrl+V to paste it. Then you can make any edits you desire.

Applying this Trick In Other Areas
- Select Tools > Options. Then go to the Results > Results General tab.
- Select the Text output to get the Results Listing.
- After you run your code – go to the Results Listing tab and apply the trick I just showed you.
- You can paste this text into your WHERE statement.
More SAS Enterprise Guide Tips
- 3 Quick Tips for Working with Data in SAS Enterprise Guide
- Best Practices: Letting SAS Enterprise Guide Write MDX Code for SAS OLAP Cubes
- Create your first SAS Stored Process in One Little Minute
- Tips & Tricks for Editing a Data Table Directly from SAS Enterprise Guide
- Creating a Dashboard with a SAS Stored Process to use in SAS Web Report Studio
![]() |
Never miss a BI Notes post!Click here for free subscription. Once you subscribe you'll be asked to confirm your subscription through your email account. You email address is kept private and you can unsubscribe anytime. |
Tricia Aanderud
Latest posts by Tricia Aanderud (see all)
- Seven Interesting Data Storytelling Examples - 2018-06-09
- Use Network Analysis to Understand Your Customers with SAS Visual Analytics 8.2 - 2018-01-21
- My 7 Favorite Features in SAS Visual Analytics 8.2 on Viya - 2018-01-14
- Designing Dashboards: Finding the Fantastic Five Colors - 2017-06-19
- Creating a Web Analytics Report in SAS Visual Analytics 8.1 - 2017-06-19