Date:         Mon, 29 Jul 2002 08:38:30 +0000
Reply-To:     dkb@CIX.COMPULINK.CO.UK
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         dkb@CIX.COMPULINK.CO.UK
Organization: Nextra UK
Subject:      Re: piece of code from TS-659

Arjen,

I think everyone would agree that in most cases, when one writes

[blahblah] variablename blah12.;

the blah12. would be a format specification - the dot identifying blah
as a format and the 12 specifying the width to use.  In this case,
however,

length Season Region $12.;

only /appears/ to contain a format.  The examples in the online help say
that you should specify the length of character variables like this:
length Season Region $ 12;

But in fact SAS is quite happy with all of these variations too:
length Season Region $12;
length Season Region $ 12.0;
length Season Region $ 12. ;
and even
length Season Region $ 12.5 ; /* but you still get 12 bytes :)  */

and $12. is one of the variations that SAS will take as a valid way to
specify a length.  Unfortunately it looks exactly like a format
specification - hence Bill's comment that what looks like a duck is not
a duck.

Kind regards,

Dave

.