What is the purpose of the OPTIONS statement in SAS?

The OPTIONS statement in SAS is utilized to set global options that influence the overall behavior of the SAS session. This includes modifying various aspects of how SAS operates, such as controlling output formats, adjusting memory usage, specifying where log files are saved, and setting the precision of numeric outputs, among other settings.

By employing the OPTIONS statement, users can tailor their SAS environment to better meet their needs for specific analyses or reporting tasks. For instance, one might adjust the number of lines per page in printed output or determine the date format for displaying dates across outputs.

In contrast, defining variables for a DATA step, reading external data files, and executing SQL queries pertain to different functionalities within SAS programming. These tasks are implemented through specific statements and procedures rather than through the OPTIONS statement, which is solely focused on global settings that impact session-wide attributes and behaviors.