What is the significance of the NODS option in the PROC CONTENTS statement?

The NODS option in the PROC CONTENTS statement is designed to suppress the display of detailed information about the dataset variables. This means that when you use the NODS option, the output produced will not include information such as the variable list, types, or formats, providing a more concise summary of metadata about the dataset.

This feature is particularly useful when a user is only interested in an overview of the dataset without the intricacies of the variable details, allowing for a quicker evaluation of the dataset structure. The other options presented refer to features that the NODS option does not cover, such as limiting the number of variables, generating a summary report, or sorting output, which are not functions of the NODS option.