What type of log message will prevent your SAS program from running?

In SAS programming, the log is a crucial part of the program execution process as it provides feedback about what happened during the run. When a log message is classified as an error, it indicates a significant issue that prevents the program from executing successfully. Errors arise from various issues, such as syntax mistakes, referencing variables that do not exist, or trying to perform operations that are not permissible.

When an error occurs, the SAS system will halt the execution of the program at the point where the error is encountered. This ensures that incorrectly processed data or faulty logic does not continue further in the program, thus safeguarding the integrity of the data and the analysis.

In contrast, warnings do not stop program execution but rather signal potential issues that may need attention, and notes are informational messages that provide insights into the operations performed without indicating problems. Therefore, the presence of errors in the log is the determinant factor that will stop the program from running, highlighting their critical nature in program debugging and integrity checks.