Does the length function in SAS count blanks?

The length function in SAS is designed to return the number of characters in a string, but it specifically excludes leading and trailing blanks. This means that when calculating the length of a character variable, any spaces that appear before the first non-space character or after the last non-space character in the string do not contribute to the total count.

For example, if you have the string " Hello World ", the length function would return a count of 11, representing the characters in "Hello World" without counting the leading three spaces or the trailing three spaces. This is fundamental to understanding how SAS processes string data, as it helps in cleaning and formatting strings for analysis or reporting without the interference of unnecessary whitespace.

In contrast to the other options: option A incorrectly suggests that all characters are counted; option C and option D mistakenly imply that only certain types of whitespace (either trailing or leading) are accounted for, which is not aligned with the function's behavior.