BNET Procedure

AUTOTUNE Statement

AUTOTUNE <options>;

The AUTOTUNE statement searches for the best combination of values for the ALPHA=, INDEPTEST=, MAXPARENTS=, MIALPHA=, MISSINGINT=, MISSINGNOM=, NUMBIN=, PARENTING=, PRESCREENING=, STRUCTURE=, and VARSELECT= options in the PROC BNET statement. You cannot specify both the AUTOTUNE statement and the CROSSVALIDATION statement in the same procedure run.

Table 2 summarizes the options that you can specify in the AUTOTUNE statement. For more information about all options except the TUNINGPARAMETERS= and SEED= options, see the option’s description in the section AUTOTUNE Statement in Chapter 2, Shared Concepts. The TUNINGPARAMETERS= and SEED= options are described following Table 2.

Note: Processing the AUTOTUNE statement is computationally expensive and requires a significant amount of time.

Note: If you specify both the AUTOTUNE statement and the BESTMODEL option in the PROC BNET statement, the AUTOTUNE statement is ignored.

Table 2: AUTOTUNE Statement Options

Option	Description
APPENDLOOKUP	Specifies that the table specified in the HISTORYTABLE= option contain the rows from the table specified in the LOOKUPTABLE= option
CONSTRAINTS=	Specifies the constraints on the output metrics
EVALHISTORY=	Specifies how to report the evaluation history of the tuner
FOLDCOLUMN=	Specifies the column in the data table in which the cross validation fold value is indicated
FRACTION=	Specifies the fraction of observations to use for validation
HISTORYTABLE=	Specifies the CAS table that contains the evaluation history
KFOLD=	Specifies the number of folds for k-fold cross validation
LIVEUPDATE	Specifies that the table specified in the HISTORYTABLE= option be updated at every evaluation
LOOKUPTABLE=	Specifies the CAS table to use for evaluation lookup
MAXBAYES=	Specifies the maximum number of points in the kriging model
MAXEVALS=	Specifies the maximum number of evaluations
MAXITER=	Specifies the maximum number of iterations when SEARCHMETHOD=GA or SEARCHMETHOD=BAYESIAN
MAXTIME=	Specifies the maximum time for all iterations
MAXTRAINTIME=	Specifies the maximum time for a model training
NCONVITER=	Specifies the number of convergence iterations
NOGRIDSHUFFLE	Requests that the grid points not be shuffled
NOLOCALSEARCH	Disables local search optimization
NPARALLEL=	Specifies the number of parallel sessions
NSUBSESSIONWORKERS=	Specifies the number of workers in parallel sessions
OBJECTIVE=	Specifies the objective function
POPSIZE=	Specifies the population size when SEARCHMETHOD=GA or SEARCHMETHOD=BAYESIAN
SAMPLESIZE=	Specifies the sample size when SEARCHMETHOD=LHS or SEARCHMETHOD=RANDOM
SEARCHMETHOD=	Specifies the search method that the optimizer uses
SECONDOBJECTIVE=	Specifies the second objective to use for tuning
SEED=	Specifies the random seed to use for tuning
SELECTINITPOINT	Specifies that the tuner select the best evaluation from the lookup table
TARGETEVENT=	Specifies the target event for ROC-based calculations
TRAINFRACTION=	Specifies the fraction of observations to use for training
TUNINGPARAMETERS=	Specifies the custom tuning parameters
USEPARAMETERS=	Specifies how to handle the TUNINGPARAMETERS= option

SEED=number

specifies the random seed value to use for the tuning process, where number must be a positive integer. If you do not specify a seed, or if you specify a value equal to zero, the seed is generated by reading the time of day from the computer’s clock.

TUNINGPARAMETERS=(suboption |…|<suboption>) TUNEPARMS=(suboption |…|<suboption>)

specifies which parameters to tune and which ranges to tune over. If you specify USEPARAMETERS=STANDARD, this option is ignored.

You can specify one or more of the following suboptions:

ALPHA (LB=number UB=number VALUES=value-list INIT=number EXCLUDE)

specifies information about the significance level for independence tests by using chi-square or G-square statistics, where number or any value in the value-list must be a real number in the range 0 to 1, inclusive. For more information, see the ALPHA= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

LB=number

specifies the minimum significance level to consider during tuning. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the VALUES= suboption.

By default, LB=0.01.

UB=number

specifies the maximum significance level to consider during tuning. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the VALUES= suboption.

By default, UB=0.99.

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of significance levels to consider during tuning, where value-list is a space-separated list of numbers in the range 0 to 1. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify either the LB= or UB= suboption.

INIT=number

specifies the initial significance level for the tuner to use.

By default, INIT=0.05.

EXCLUDE

excludes the significance level from the tuning process. If you specify this suboption, any specified LB=, UB=, VALUES=, and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

INDEPTEST (VALUES=value-list INIT=value EXCLUDE)

specifies information about the method to use for independence tests. For more information, see the INDEPTEST= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of methods to use for independence tests, where value-list is a space-separated list of CHIGSQUARE, CHISQUARE, MI, and GSQUARE.

INIT=CHIGSQUARE | CHISQUARE | MI | GSQUARE

specifies the initial method to use for independence tests.

By default, INIT=CHIGSQUARE.

EXCLUDE

excludes the INDEPTEST suboption from the tuning process. If you specify EXCLUDE, any specified VALUES= and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

MAXPARENTS (LB=number UB=number VALUES=value-list INIT=number EXCLUDE)

specifies information about the maximum number of parents that are allowed for each node in the network structure. The valid range is 1 to 16, inclusive. For more information, see the MAXPARENTS= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

LB=number

specifies a lower bound on the maximum number of parents to consider during tuning. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the VALUES= suboption.

By default, LB=1.

UB=number

specifies an upper bound on the maximum number of parents to consider during tuning. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the VALUES= suboption.

By default, UB=16.

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of values to consider for the maximum number of parents in the network structure, where value-list is a space-separated list of numbers. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the LB= and UB= suboptions.

INIT=number

specifies the initial maximum number of parents in the network structure.

By default, INIT=5.

EXCLUDE

excludes the maximum number of parents from the tuning process. If you specify this suboption, any specified LB=, UB=, VALUES=, and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

MIALPHA (LB=number UB=number VALUES=value-list INIT=number EXCLUDE)

specifies information about the threshold for independence tests by using mutual information. For more information, see the MIALPHA= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

LB=number

specifies the minimum threshold value to consider during tuning. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the VALUES= suboption.

By default, LB=0.

UB=number

specifies the maximum threshold value to consider during tuning. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the VALUES= suboption.

By default, UB=1.

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of threshold values to consider during tuning, where value-list is a space-separated list of numbers in the range 0 to 1. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the LB= and UB= suboptions.

INIT=number

specifies the initial threshold value for the tuner to use.

By default, INIT=0.05.

EXCLUDE

excludes the threshold value from the tuning process. If you specify this suboption, any specified LB=, UB=, VALUES=, and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

MISSINGINT (VALUES=value-list INIT=value EXCLUDE)

specifies information about how to handle missing values for interval variables during the tuning process. For more information, see the MISSINGINT= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of values for the tuner to try for the MISSINGINT suboption, where you can specify IMPUTE or IGNORE (or both) in a space-separated value-list.

INIT=IMPUTE | IGNORE

specifies whether to start tuning by imputing or ignoring missing values of interval variables.

By default, INIT=IGNORE.

EXCLUDE

excludes the MISSINGINT suboption from the tuning process. If you specify EXCLUDE, any specified VALUES= and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

MISSINGNOM (VALUES=value-list INIT=value EXCLUDE)

specifies information about how to handle missing values for nominal variables during the tuning process. For more information, see the MISSINGNOM= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of values for the tuner to handle missing values for nominal variables, where value-list is a combination of one or more of the following values in a space-separated list: IMPUTE, IGNORE, and LEVEL.

INIT=IMPUTE | IGNORE | LEVEL

specifies the initial value to use in tuning the MISSINGNOM suboption.

By default, INIT=IGNORE.

EXCLUDE

excludes the MISSINGNOM suboption from the tuning process. If you specify EXCLUDE, any specified VALUES= and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

NUMBIN (LB=number UB=number VALUES=value-list INIT=number EXCLUDE)

specifies information about the number of binning levels for all interval variables. The valid range is 2 to 20. For more information, see the NUMBIN= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

LB=number

specifies a lower bound of binning levels to consider during tuning. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the VALUES= suboption.

By default, LB=2.

UB=number

specifies an upper bound of binning levels to consider during tuning. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the VALUES= suboption.

By default, UB=20.

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of values of binning levels to consider, where value-list is a space-separated list of numbers. If you specify this suboption, you cannot specify the LB= and UB= suboptions.

INIT=number

specifies the initial number of binning levels.

By default, INIT=5.

EXCLUDE

excludes the number of binning levels from the tuning process. If you specify this suboption, any specified LB=, UB=, VALUES=, and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

PARENTING (VALUES=value-list INIT=value EXCLUDE)

specifies information about the algorithm for orienting the network structure. For more information, see the PARENTING= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of algorithms for orienting the network structure during tuning, where value-list is a space-separated list of BESTONE and BESTSET.

INIT=BESTONE | BESTSET

specifies the initial algorithm for orienting the network structure for the tuner to use.

By default, INIT=BESTSET.

EXCLUDE

excludes the algorithm selection for orienting the network structure from the tuning process. If you specify this suboption, any specified VALUES= and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

PRESCREENING (VALUES=value-list INIT=value EXCLUDE)

specifies information about the initial screening for the input variables. For more information, see the PRESCREENING= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of initial screening values for the input variables, where value-list is a space-separated list of 0 and 1.

INIT=number

specifies the initial screening for the input variables.

By default, INIT=1.

EXCLUDE

excludes the initial screening for the input variables from the tuning process. If you specify this suboption, any specified VALUES= and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

STRUCTURE (VALUES=value-list INIT=value EXCLUDE)

specifies information about the network structure. For more information, see the STRUCTURE= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of structures, where value-list is a space-separated list of MB, NAIVE, PC, and TAN. You cannot specify the value GENERAL (or GN) for the VALUES= or INIT= suboption in the AUTOTUNE statement.

INIT=MB | NAIVE | PC | TAN

specifies the initial network structure.

By default, INIT=PC.

EXCLUDE

excludes the network structure from the tuning process. If you specify this suboption, any specified VALUES= and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

VARSELECT (VALUES=value-list INIT=value EXCLUDE)

specifies information about how to select input variables during the tuning process after the prescreening. For more information, see the VARSELECT= option in the PROC BNET statement.

You can specify the following additional suboptions:

VALUES=value-list

specifies a list of input variables to consider for the tuning process after the prescreening, where value-list is a space-separated list of 0, 1, 2, and 3.

INIT=number

specifies the initial value to consider for the tuning process after the prescreening.

By default, INIT=1.

EXCLUDE

excludes the VARSELECT suboption from the tuning process. If you specify EXCLUDE, any specified VALUES= and INIT= suboptions are ignored.

Last updated: August 06, 2026