proc transpose and labels

[xxformat_com]

I've noticed that :

1/ Add labels - The label statement creates a WARNING when specifying a label for a variable which is only available in the output dataset e.g. _name_, _label_, col1 and so on, but still add it. The same thing can be observed with the attrib statement.

2/ Remove labels - When it comes to removing labels, it removes them  but creates a warning when it comes to the automatic _name_ and _label_ variable labels. It is the same with the attrib statement using attrib _all_ label=' ' is used.

Do you have any thought on that or any literature which would cover this topic?

Here is some code to play around the different scenaries.

data class; 
    length student $4; 
    student='John'; topic1=89; topic2=12; output;
    student='Mary'; topic1=53; topic2=44; output;
run;

proc print data=class noobs;
run;

proc transpose data = class 
               out  = class_t; 
    by student; 
    var topic1 topic2;

    *label student = 'Student Name' 
          topic1  = 'Maths' 
          topic2  = 'Geography'
          _name_  ='XNAME' 
          _label_ ='XLABEL' 
          col1    ='XCOL';

    *attrib student label = 'Student Name'
           topic1  label = 'Maths' 
           topic2  label = 'Geography'
           _name_  label = 'XNAME' 
           _label_ label = 'XLABEL' 
           col1    label = 'XCOL';

    *label _name_ =' '
          _label_=' ';
          
    *attrib _name_  label = '' 
           _label_ label = '';

    attrib _all_ label =' ';
run;

proc print data=class_t noobs;
run;
proc print data=class_t label noobs;
run;

[ballardw]

There are two basic approaches to dealing with assigning labels to variables other than _name_  variable.

The Proc Transpose option LABEL sets the value of the label for the _name_ variable.

If you are using the ID option you can include another variable that holds the intended label for the transposed variable names created by use of ID.

Or use Proc DATASETS to add labels to the created transposed data after the set is created.