What is the primary use of PROC EXPORT in SAS?

PROC EXPORT is primarily used for transferring SAS datasets to external files in various formats such as CSV, Excel, or other text files. This procedure allows users to create a file outside of the SAS environment, enabling data sharing and analysis in applications that do not use SAS, or for storage and reporting purposes.

When using PROC EXPORT, you can specify the desired file format and the output destination, providing flexibility in how you handle your data. This is essential for workflows where SAS-generated data needs to be analyzed or presented using different software or needs to be accessible for other teams within an organization.

The other options, while they describe important functionalities within SAS, do not align with the specific purpose of PROC EXPORT. For instance, importing data from external sources is handled by procedures like PROC IMPORT. Modifying existing datasets is typically done using procedures or data step modifications rather than an export function. Summarizing data for reporting would involve procedures such as PROC MEANS or PROC SUMMARY, focusing on data analytics rather than exporting raw dataset content.