set statement in a do loop vs set statement not in do loop

[Ksharp]

Each SET statement will assign a pointer to the table, even if they are the same table.

Therefore,the first one has only one SET/pointer , will output three obs.

the second one have three SET/pointer , will output 3*3 obs .

[danielhanbitlee]

Thank you for the reply. This is very helpful.

I would accept this as a solution as well but I'm not sure how to have multiple answers as solutions.

[ballardw]

Another potentially useful exercise: Compare the two resulting sets from:

data newbank;
	set banks;
		output;
	set banks;
		output;
	set banks;
		output;
run;

data newbank2;
	set banks
	    banks
	    banks
	;
run;

[danielhanbitlee]

Thank you for the exercise. This is a good point and it helps me to understand what is going on behind the scenes when combining datasets.