When writing postcode in the Precode and Postcode tab of the Transpose transformation in SAS Data Integration Studio, which symbol allows you to reference the transformation output table regardless…

Question

Options

• A&syslast
• Bsyslast
• C&target
• D%target

• A
  89% (17)
• C
  5% (1)
• D
  5% (1)

Explanation

&syslast is a SAS automatic macro variable that SAS automatically updates to hold the two-level name (libref.dataset) of the most recently created dataset. In the Postcode tab of the Transpose transformation, the output table is the last dataset produced, so &syslast dynamically resolves to that target table's physical name - no matter what it's actually called.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• B. syslast - Without the & prefix, SAS treats this as a literal string, not a macro variable reference. Macro variables require & to trigger resolution.
• C. &target - Not a built-in SAS automatic macro variable; SAS will not resolve this to anything meaningful in this context (it would resolve to an empty string or cause an error).
• D. %target - The % prefix denotes a macro statement or function (e.g., %let, %if), not a variable reference. There is no built-in macro function called target.

Memory tip: Think "& = address of a variable" - the ampersand tells SAS to look up the value stored in that macro variable. SYSLAST = "SYStem's LAST dataset," and pairing it with & gives you its value dynamically.

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