LENGTH Statement: z/OS

Specifies how many bytes SAS uses to store a variable's value.

Valid in:	In a DATA step
z/OS specifics:	Length of numeric variables
See:	LENGTH Statement in SAS Statements: Reference

LENGTH variables <$> length . . . <DEFAULT=n > ;

This syntax is a simplified version of the LENGTH statement syntax; see SAS(R) 9.3 Statements: Reference for the complete syntax and its explanation.

length: can range from 2 to 8 for numeric variables and from 1 to 32,767 for character variables. The minimum value for length for a numeric value might be greater than 2 when you create a SAS data set that is written in a data representation other than the native data representation for SAS on z/OS.

n: changes from 8 to n the default number of bytes that SAS uses for storing the values of newly created numeric variables. Under z/OS, n can range from 2 to 8.

Syntax