PROC SQL options are specified in the PROC SQL statement. After you specify an option, it remains in effect until you change it or you re-invoke PROC SQL.

The INOBS= option restricts the number of rows that PROC SQL takes as input from any single source. The INOBS= option is similar to the SAS system option OBS= and is useful for debugging queries on large tables. The OUTOBS= option restricts the number of rows that PROC SQL displays or writes to a table.

After you specify an option, it remains in effect until you change it or you re-invoke PROC SQL. You can use the RESET statement to add, drop, or change PROC SQL options without re-invoking the SQL procedure. In the correct answer, the RESET statement adds the NUMBER option and the OUTOBS= option. The resulting output lists the first 10 rows in the table Sasuser.Flightattendants where the value of Jobcode equals FA2 and includes a column named Row.

The DOUBLE | NODOUBLE option specifies whether PROC SQL output is double-spaced in listing output. The FLOW | NOFLOW | FLOW=n | FLOW=n m option controls the appearance of wide character columns in listing output. Neither option affects the appearance of HTML output.

The STIMER | NOSTIMER option in PROC SQL specifies whether PROC SQL writes timing information for each statement to the SAS log, instead of as a cumulative value for the entire procedure. NOSTIMER is the default. In order to use the STIMER option in PROC SQL, the SAS system option STIMER (the default) must also be in effect. If you use the system option alone, you will receive timing information for the entire procedure, not on a statement-by-statement basis.

A Dictionary table is a special, read-only SAS data view that contains information about SAS data libraries, SAS data sets, SAS macros, and external files that are in use or available in the current SAS session. A Dictionary table also contains the settings for SAS system options that are currently in effect.

Dictionary tables are created each time they are referenced in a SAS program, updated automatically, and limited to read-only access. Accessing a Dictionary table causes SAS to determine the current state of the SAS session and return the information that you want.

Dictionary tables can be accessed by running a PROC SQL query against the table, using the Dictionary libref. Though SAS librefs are usually limited to eight characters, Dictionary is an automatically assigned, reserved word. You can also access a Dictionary table by referring to the PROC SQL view of the table that is stored in the Sashelp library.

To see how a Dictionary table is defined, submit a DESCRIBE TABLE statement. The DESCRIBE TABLE statement writes a CREATE TABLE statement to the SAS log for the table specified in the DESCRIBE TABLE statement.

To display information about the files in a specific library, specify the column names in a SELECT statement and the Dictionary table name in the FROM clause. The library name in the WHERE clause must be specified in uppercase letters because that is how it is stored in SAS and it must be enclosed in quotation marks.