SAS Symbol Statement

Symbol statements (symbol, symbol1,..., symbol255) are used to control some of the behavior of the plot command in proc gplot. The symbol and symbol1 statements are interchangeable. Options specified in a symbol statement apply in all higher numbered symbol statements unless explicitly set to other values.

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Symbol statements are used (starting with symbol1) until use of that symbol statement would result in duplication of the color, plotting symbol, or interpolation methods that have already appeared in the plot, or until the defined symbol statements are exhausted.

There are many options that can be set in the symbol statement. In black on white printing (as set up using the colors statement in the goptions statement) the most commonly used are line style, line width, and interpolation method. Example:


symbol l=3 w=5 i=join;


The option l=n, where 1<=n <=46, specifies the style of line to be used in the plot. l=1 corresponds to a solid line, and the remaining choices correspond to a variety of dashed lines.

The option w=n specifies an integer magnification factor for the thickness of the lines within the plot. This option is not supported on all devices. 公卫家园

The interpol= option (which can be abbreviated i=) sets the interpolation method (the way in which points on the graph are connected). Some common options are: i=none (points are not connected), i=join (points are connected by straight lines), i=needle (produces a needle graph), i=stepl (produces empirical distribution function graphs), i=stdm (produces a plot with error bars). There are further options available to control the features of the error bars.

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For further information consult the SAS/GRAPH Users Guide.