A00-215 Exam Preparation Material | SAS 9.4 Programming Fundamentals Exam

Explanation:
In SAS, the code you provided involves creating two datasets, table1 and table2, from the dataset sashelp.shoes. The key part to understand here is how the DATA statement and OUTPUT statement interact with the specified datasets.
DATA Statement: The statement data table1 table2; initiates the creation of two new datasets named table1 and table2.
SET Statement: The set sashelp.shoes; statement is used to read data from the sashelp.shoes dataset. This dataset includes data on shoe sales from SASHELP library, which is commonly used for demonstration purposes in SAS.
OUTPUT Statement: In the context of the DATA step where multiple datasets are specified in the DATA statement (as in table1 table2), the OUTPUT statement without a dataset name specified outputs the current observation to all datasets listed in the DATA statement. This is a critical point because it determines where the data goes after processing in the DATA step.
Execution: When the run; statement is executed, it processes each observation from sashelp.shoes. For each observation, because there is no condition or additional OUTPUT statements specifying dataset names, each observation is output to both table1 and table2.
Therefore, the correct behavior as described is that each observation in sashelp.shoes is written to
both table1 and table2. This effectively duplicates each row from the source into both target
datasets.
Reference: SAS 9.4 Language
Reference: Concepts, "DATA Step Processing" and "OUTPUT Statement" sections provide detailed explanations on how DATA steps process and how OUTPUT statement works in different contexts.
Practical examples and explanations from SAS programming courses and official SAS documentation, which discuss DATA and SET statements, and their interaction with OUTPUT in data duplication
scenarios.