Overview of Defining Variables

In the output that you've seen in this lesson so far, you might have noticed that PROC REPORT displays

• each data value the way it is stored in the data set
• variable names as column headings in the report
• a default width for the report columns
• left-justified character values
• right-justified numeric values
• observations in the order in which they are stored in the data set.

You can enhance the report by

• defining how each variable is used in the report
• assigning formats to variables
• specifying column headings and widths
• justifying the variable values and column headings within the report columns
• changing the order of the rows in the report.

Let's see how you define variables.