Statistical Analysis System (SAS) Programming Certification Practice Exam

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Prepare for the SAS Programming Certification Exam with a variety of questions and detailed explanations. Enhance your SAS skills and increase your confidence. Get ready for success!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

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How can you prevent the values of the variable Blue from being overwritten when merging two data sets?

data work.merged; merge cert.spring(in=blue) cert.summer; by fabric;
data work.merged; merge cert.spring(out=blue) cert.summer;
data work.merged; merge cert.spring(blue=navy) cert.summer; by fabric;
data work.merged; merge cert.spring(rename=(blue=navy)) cert.summer; by fabric;

The correct answer is: data work.merged; merge cert.spring(rename=(blue=navy)) cert.summer; by fabric;

The choice to prevent the values of the variable Blue from being overwritten during the merging of two data sets is accomplished by using the rename option. This effectively changes the name of the variable Blue in the first dataset, cert.spring, to a new name, Navy, before the merge occurs. By renaming the variable, the original values of Blue remain intact and can be used from the second dataset, cert.summer, without any conflict or overwriting. This method is particularly useful when both datasets contain a variable with the same name. By renaming, it allows for a seamless combination of the datasets where both variables can be preserved. After the merge, if you want to access the original values from both datasets, you can do so with their respective names, avoiding any confusion or data loss. In this context, renaming is a vital step in managing variable names effectively during data manipulation tasks in SAS, especially when dealing with merges.