SAS variables

• When creating variables, do not use the names of special SAS automatic variables (for example, _N_ and _ERROR_) or special variable list names (for example, _CHARACTER_, _NUMERIC_, and _ALL_).
• The maximum length of a variable is 32 bytes.
• The first character must be an English letter (A–Z, a–z) or an underscore (_). Subsequent characters can be letters, numeric digits (0, 1, . . ., 9), or underscores.
• The name cannot contain blank spaces or special characters except for an underscore.
• You can use uppercase or lowercase letters.
• The name can contain mixed–case letters.

  Note:

  SAS stores and writes the variable name in the same case that is used in the first reference to the variable. However, when SAS processes variable names, SAS internally converts it to uppercase. You cannot, therefore, use the same variable name with a different combination of upper and lowercase letters to represent different variables. For example, cat, Cat, and CAT all represent the same variable.
• Trailing blanks are ignored. The name alignment is left-justified.

SAS data set names and file names

• When creating SAS data sets, do not use these names: _NULL_, _DATA_, _LAST_.
• The maximum length of a data set name is 32 bytes.
• The first character must be an English letter (A–Z, a–z) or an underscore (_). Subsequent characters can be letters, numeric digits (0, 1, . . ., 9), or underscores.
• The name cannot contain blank spaces or special characters except for an underscore.
• You can use uppercase or lowercase letters.
• The name can contain mixed-case letters.

  Note:

  SAS internally converts the member name to uppercase. Do not use the same member name with a different combination of uppercase and lowercase letters to represent different variables. For example, customer, Customer, and CUSTOMER all represent the same member name. How the name on the disk appears is determined by the operating environment.

SAS labels

• The maximum length is 256 bytes.
• The label cannot contain blank spaces or special characters except for an underscore.