What does the YEAR function return in SAS when given a date?

The YEAR function in SAS is designed to extract the year component from a given date value and return it as a full numeric year. For example, if the input date is January 1, 2023, the function will return 2023. This functionality is particularly useful in data analysis and reporting where the year needs to be isolated for aggregation or filtering purposes.

In contrast, the other choices reflect misunderstandings of the function's capabilities. The first option suggests that it returns the current date, which is not accurate as YEAR strictly works with a provided date to extract the year. The option about returning only the last two digits of the year does not apply here, as YEAR provides the complete year in four digits. Lastly, the idea that it returns the total number of years since 2000 also misrepresents the function's purpose, as YEAR simply extracts the year from a date without performing any calculations based on a reference year. Thus, the appropriate understanding of the YEAR function confirms that it indeed returns the full numeric year.