What happens if a character value does not conform to numeric notation?

If a character value does not conform to numeric notation, it leads to a missing value in SAS. This occurs because SAS attempts to interpret the character string as a numeric value but fails to do so due to the presence of non-numeric characters or formatting issues. When the conversion fails, SAS cannot assign a valid numeric value, resulting in a missing value for that observation.

This behavior is significant in data processing as it indicates that the specific data cannot be analyzed or used in calculations, thus maintaining the integrity of numeric operations by preventing erroneous values from being used. Since the data cannot be converted into a usable format, the result is a blank or missing value that highlights the need for data validation prior to analysis.