Working with Matrices
Operators
Operators used in matrix expressions fall into three general categories:
- Prefix operators
are placed in front of operands. For example,
-Auses the sign reversal prefix operator (
) in front of the matrix Ato reverse the sign of each element ofA.- Binary operators
are placed between operands. For example,
A + Buses the addition binary operator (+) between matricesAandBto add corresponding elements of the matrices.- Postfix operators
are placed after an operand. For example,
A‘uses the transpose postfix operator (`) after the matrixAto transpose the matrix.
Matrix operators are described in detail in Chapter 25, Language Reference.
Table 1 shows the precedence of matrix operators in the SAS/IML language.
Table 1: Operator Precedence
| Priority Group | Operators | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I (highest) | ^ |
 | subscripts | (prefix) | ## | ** | |
| II | * | # | <> | >< | / | @ | |
| III | + | | |||||
| IV |  | // | : | ||||
| V | < | <= | > | >= | = | ^= | |
| VI | & | ||||||
| VII (lowest) | | | ||||||
Last updated: July 20, 2026