Setting the Length of Character Variables
This example illustrates
why you might want to specify a length for a character variable, rather
than let the first assigned value determine the length. Because New
York City has two airports, both the abbreviations for John F. Kennedy
International Airport and La Guardia
Airport can be assigned to the Airport variable as in the DATA step.
Note: When you create character variables, SAS
determines the length of the variable from its first occurrence in
the DATA step. Therefore, you must allow for the longest possible
value in the first statement that mentions the variable. If you do
not assign the longest value the first time the variable is assigned,
then data can be truncated.
/* first attempt ...
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