I assert that the warning received when using the outobs= option in PROC SQL is inconsistent with other SAS options, such as firstobs=, obs=, [startobs=, endobs= (spde engine)]. Yes, I know they are input not output options.
I further assert the warning is unnecessary since I explicity coded the outobs= option. Why warn me for something I've explicitly chosen?
Finally, numerous Google hits will show that end users find the warning to be user unfriendly.
The undocumented NOWARN option to PROC SQL will suppress the warning, but this suppresses other warnings that I might be interested in.
So just get rid of the outobs= warning as a bad idea that's been fixed by SAS 😉
If there's a good reason why the warning exists that overrides the above reasoning please let me know.
(And does anyone know why SAS chose startobs= and endobs= for the SPDE engine instead of firstobs= and obs=? They appear to do the same thing, and any differences are so subtle that the different syntax seems unnecessary.)