About the length of column

[Jianan_luna]

I took quiz from SAS programming 1, I think the length is 8. But the answer is 6. Could anyone help me about it?

[ketpt42]

The assignment to 'luxury' in the 3rd line sets the length at 6. Put the length statement prior to the assignment to get the correct length.

[Kurt_Bremser]

When the data step compiler compiles the code, it sets variable attributes from the first encounter of a variable where the attribute can be deduced.

In your case this is the statement where the 6-character string "luxury" is assigned; subsequent changes in the length are ignored.

Make it a habit to put attribute-setting statements (ATTRIB, LENGTH, FORMAT, but also SET, MERGE, UPDATE) into the top of your data step code.