Note that blanks are not allowed. Mixed case variables are allowed. See Rules for Words and Names for more details on mixed case variables. See Automatic Variables for more information. Other rules apply when this option is set differently.
Type identifies a variable as numeric or character.
Within a DATA step, a variable is assumed to be numeric unless character is indicated. Numeric values represent numbers, can be read in a variety of ways, and are stored in floating-point format. Character values can contain letters, numbers, and special characters and can be from 1 to 32,767 characters long. Length refers to the number of bytes used to store each of the variable's values in a SAS data set. A variable that appears for the first time on the left side of an assignment statement has the same length as the expression on the right side of the assignment statement.