The COMPARE Procedure

VAR Statement

Restricts the comparison of the values of variables to those named in the VAR statement.

Featured in: Comparing Variables in Different Data Sets , Comparing a Variable Multiple Times , and Comparing Variables That Are in the Same Data Set

VAR variable(s);

variable(s): one or more variables that appear in the BASE= and COMPARE= data sets or only in the BASE= data set.

If you do not use the VAR statement, PROC COMPARE compares the values of all matching variables except those appearing in BY and ID statements.
If a variable in the VAR statement does not exist in the COMPARE= data set, PROC COMPARE writes a warning to the SAS log and ignores the variable.
If a variable in the VAR statement does not exist in the BASE= data set, PROC COMPARE stops processing and gives an error message.
The VAR statement restricts only the comparison of values of matching variables. PROC COMPARE still reports on the total number of matching variables and compares their attributes. However, it produces neither error nor warning messages about these variables.