Getting the names, types, formats, lengths, and labels of variables in a SAS data set

After reading my blog post on getting the variable names of a SAS data set, a reader named Robin asked how to get the formats as well.  I asked SAS Technical Support for help, and a consultant named Jerry Leonard provided a beautiful solution using PROC SQL.  Besides the names and formats of the variables, it also gives the types, lengths, and labels.  Here is an example of how to do so with the CLASS data set in the built-in SASHELP library.

* add formats and labels to 3 of the variables in the CLASS data set;
data class;                                                      
       set sashelp.class;                                            
       format 
            age 8.  
            weight height 8.2 
            name $15.;          
       label 
            age = 'Age'
            weight = 'Weight'
            height = 'Height';
run;                                                             
                  

* extract the variable information using PROC SQL; 
proc sql 
       noprint;                                                
       create table class_info as 
       select libname as library, 
              memname as data_set, 
              name as variable_name, 
              type, 
              length, 
              format, 
              label       
       from dictionary.columns                                       
       where libname = 'WORK' and memname = 'CLASS';                     
       /* libname and memname values must be upper case  */         
quit;                                                          
                   
 
* print the resulting table;
proc print 
       data = class_info;                                            
run;

Here is the result of that PROC PRINT step in the Results Viewer.  Notice that it also has the type, length, format, and label of each variable.

Obs	library	data_set	variable_name	type	length	format	label
1	WORK	CLASS	Name	char	8	$15.
2	WORK	CLASS	Sex	char	1
3	WORK	CLASS	Age	num	8	8.	Age
4	WORK	CLASS	Height	num	8	8.2	Height
5	WORK	CLASS	Weight	num	8	8.2	Weight

Thank you, Jerry, for sharing your tip!