LENGTH

LENGTH

Specifies how many bytes SAS uses to store a variable's value

Valid: in a DATA step

OS/390 specifics: length of numeric variables

Syntax
See Also

Syntax

LENGTH variables <$> length . . . <DEFAULT=n >;

Note: This is a simplified version of the LENGTH statement syntax; see SAS Language Reference: Dictionary for the complete syntax and its explanation. [cautionend]

length: can range from 2 to 8 for numeric variables and from 1 to 32,767 for character variables.
n: changes from 8 to n the default number of bytes that SAS uses for storing the values of newly created numeric variables. Under OS/390, n can range from 2 to 8.

See Also

Using the LENGTH Statement to Save Storage Space
SAS Language Reference: Dictionary

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Valid:	in a DATA step
OS/390 specifics:	length of numeric variables