Complete SAS Programming Guide - Learn SAS and Become a Data Ninja - Masking Special Characters

The video tutorial explains the concept of special characters in SAS programming and the need for masking them to prevent confusion during code execution. It introduces the STR function for masking apostrophes and provides an example of its application. Additionally, the tutorial covers other masking functions like R, which handles ampersands and percent signs, and B Quote, which performs masking during execution rather than compilation.

Why is it important to mask special characters like semicolons in SAS programming?

• To enhance the readability of the code

• To ensure compatibility with other programming languages

• To prevent SAS from misinterpreting them as code delimiters

• To increase the execution speed of the program

What is the purpose of using the percent STR function in SAS?

• To format numerical data

• To mask special characters during code execution

• To create new macro variables

• To convert text to uppercase

How can you handle an apostrophe in a macro variable using the STR function?

• By removing the apostrophe

• By placing a percent sign in front of it

• By using double quotes instead

• By adding a backslash before it

What is the main difference between the B quote and STR functions in SAS?

• B quote is used for formatting, while STR is for masking

• B quote is faster than STR

• B quote masks during execution, while STR masks during compilation

• B quote is used for numerical data, while STR is for text

Which function is specifically used to mask ampersands and percent signs in SAS?

• R

• STR

• B quote

• L quote