What does PROC CONTENTS provide when executed in SAS?

The correct choice highlights how PROC CONTENTS in SAS is primarily designed to provide detailed information about the structure and characteristics of SAS datasets or a SAS data library. When you execute PROC CONTENTS, it generates a listing that includes essential metadata such as the names of the variables, their types (character or numeric), lengths, and labels, as well as additional attributes like data set sizes and number of observations. This is particularly useful for understanding the dataset's overall structure before performing any analysis or data manipulation.

The other responses encapsulate functions that do not align with the specific purpose of PROC CONTENTS. A visual representation of data generally involves graphical procedures rather than contents listing. Summary statistics are typically generated using procedures like PROC MEANS or PROC FREQ, which focus on numerical analysis rather than providing metadata. Lastly, creating a new dataset usually involves data step programming or specific procedures designed for data manipulation, rather than the functionality offered by PROC CONTENTS.