How is a label assigned to a variable in SAS?

A label is assigned to a variable in SAS using the LABEL statement. This statement allows you to specify a descriptive label for a variable to make output more understandable, especially in reports and data listings. When a label is assigned using the LABEL statement, it will appear in the output instead of the variable name, which can be particularly useful for making the output more readable and informative for end-users.

For instance, if you have a variable representing customer age, you could assign a label like "Customer Age (Years)" to provide clear context about what the variable represents. The syntax for this would typically look like:

data example;

set original_data;

label age = "Customer Age (Years)";

run;

This ensures that when you generate reports or views that include the age variable, it will display the label instead of just the variable name.

Other statements listed do not serve the same purpose as the LABEL statement. The TITLE statement is used to assign titles to output and reports, the FORMAT statement specifies how numeric and character values are displayed but does not categorize them with a label, and the ATTRIB statement can assign attributes like format, informats, or labels but is less direct than using the LABEL statement alone for assigning variable