The QUOTE function adds
double quotation marks, the default character, to a character value.
If double quotation marks are found within the argument, they are
doubled in the output.
The length of the receiving
variable must be long enough to contain the argument (including trailing
blanks), leading and trailing quotation marks, and any embedded quotation
marks that are doubled. For example, if the argument is ABC followed
by three trailing blanks, then the receiving variable must have a
length of at least eight to hold “ABC###”. (The character
# represents a blank space.) If the receiving field is not long enough,
the QUOTE function returns a blank string, and writes an invalid argument
note to the SAS log.
A string of characters
enclosed in double quotation marks is a DS2 identifier and not a character
constant. The double quotation marks become part of the identifier.
Quoted identifiers cannot be used to create column names in an output
table.