The LOOPS= option restricts the number
of iterations of the inner loop in PROC SQL. By setting a limit, you
can prevent queries from consuming excessive resources.
For example, joining
three large tables without meeting the join-matching conditions could
create a huge internal table that would be inefficient to process.
Use the LOOPS= option to prevent this from happening.
You can
use the PROMPT | NOPROMPT option to modify the effect of the LOOPS=
option so that you are prompted to stop or continue processing when
the limit set by the LOOPS= option is reached.
Note: You can use the number of iterations that are reported in the SQLOOPS macro variable (after each PROC SQL statement is executed) ...