topic Re: SAS Base Question in SAS Studio

SAS Base Question

jc3992 — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 17:18:31 GMT

Hello everyone,

I wonder why we cannot select answer (a) for the following question?

Thank you!

13.) What is true about array variables?

They are temporary variables created in datastep.
They are output in dataset.
Can contain numeric and character values at same time.
Cannot be used in assignment statement.

Answer: b

Re: SAS Base Question

PaigeMiller — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 17:24:10 GMT

I don't see answer (a) anywhere, do you mean the answer that is first under the question? If so, that is not correct because array variables are not temporary.

Re: SAS Base Question

jc3992 — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 17:37:11 GMT

So I guess "array" is temporary but the array variables are not.

Was this what you meant?

Thank you!

Re: SAS Base Question

PaigeMiller — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 17:38:37 GMT

The variables are not temporary.

Re: SAS Base Question

Reeza — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 17:48:02 GMT

If you declare an array the variables are cxreated in the output data set.

Not temporary, unless explicitly specified.

data want;
array a(20);
run;

proc contents data=want;run;

@jc3992 wrote:

So I guess "array" is temporary but the array variables are not.

Was this what you meant?

Thank you!

Re: SAS Base Question

ballardw — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 19:41:50 GMT

@jc3992 wrote:

Hello everyone,

I wonder why we cannot select answer (a) for the following question?

Thank you!

13.) What is true about array variables?

They are temporary variables created in datastep.

They are output in dataset.

Can contain numeric and character values at same time.

Cannot be used in assignment statement.

Answer: b

Log result of pretty minimal program:

2598  data work.example;
2599     array a{5};
2600  run;

NOTE: The data set WORK.EXAMPLE has 1 observations and 5 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.01 seconds

The first note following the data step shows that the output data set has 5 variables. Exercise for the interested reader is what are the variable names and why?

It is possible to create temporary array variables though:

2601  data work.example;
2602     array a{5} _temporary_ (1,2,3,4,5);
2603  run;

NOTE: The data set WORK.EXAMPLE has 1 observations and 0 variables.

Of course a data set with no variables is not terribly interesting for most purposes.