What is the purpose of the 'firstobs=' option in SAS?

The purpose of the 'firstobs=' option in SAS is to specify the first observation to be read from a dataset. This is particularly useful when you want to control the portion of the dataset that gets processed or analyzed—allowing you to skip a certain number of observations at the beginning. For instance, if you are working with a large dataset but only want to analyze a subset of it, you can set 'firstobs=' to start reading from a specific observation instead of always starting at the first one.

By using this option, you can efficiently manage your data processing tasks and focus on the relevant observations that are needed for your analysis without modifying the original dataset. This flexibility is especially beneficial in scenarios where datasets are large, and you want to evaluate just a portion of the data quickly. Overall, 'firstobs=' enhances the control over data input and processing within SAS programs.