What does the TODAY function return in SAS?

The TODAY function in SAS is specifically designed to return the current date in the form of a SAS date value. SAS date values represent the number of days since January 1, 1960, allowing for easy date manipulation and calculations within SAS programs. By using TODAY, users can work with the present date effectively, which can be particularly useful for timestamping data, performing date calculations, or generating reports that require up-to-date information.

In contrast, options discussing SAS time, the number of days in the month, or the day of the week are not relevant to the functionality of the TODAY function. These concepts may involve different functions or approaches in SAS, but they do not apply to what TODAY specifically returns.