A00-215 Exam Dumps : SAS Certified Associate: Programming Fundamentals Using SAS 9.4

In SAS, the code you provided involves creating two datasets, table1 and table2, from the dataset sashelp.shoes. The key part to understand here is how the DATA statement and OUTPUT statement interact with the specified datasets.

• DATA Statement: The statement data table1 table2; initiates the creation of two new datasets named table1 and table2.
• SET Statement: The set sashelp.shoes; statement is used to read data from the sashelp.shoes dataset. This dataset includes data on shoe sales from SASHELP library, which is commonly used for demonstration purposes in SAS.
• OUTPUT Statement: In the context of the DATA step where multiple datasets are specified in the DATA statement (as in table1 table2), the OUTPUT statement without a dataset name specified outputs the current observation to all datasets listed in the DATA statement. This is a critical point because it determines where the data goes after processing in the DATA step.
• Execution: When the run; statement is executed, it processes each observation from sashelp.shoes. For each observation, because there is no condition or additional OUTPUT statements specifying dataset names, each observation is output to both table1 and table2.

Therefore, the correct behavior as described is that each observation in sashelp.shoes is written to both table1 and table2. This effectively duplicates each row from the source into both target datasets.

References:

• SAS 9.4 Language Reference: Concepts, "DATA Step Processing" and "OUTPUT Statement" sections provide detailed explanations on how DATA steps process and how OUTPUT statement works in different contexts.
• Practical examples and explanations from SAS programming courses and official SAS documentation, which discuss DATA and SET statements, and their interaction with OUTPUT in data duplication scenarios.

Option C is correct. The set statement is used within a DATA step to read an existing SAS data set. In this case, set sashelp.shoes; reads the SASHELP.SHOES data set, and data work.total; specifies the creation of a new data set named TOTAL in the WORK library. The options A, B, and D are incorrect because they either use the wrong syntax or are not proper statements for reading an input data set and creating an output data set.

References:

• SAS 9.4 documentation on the DATA step.