Removing "Variable is Uninitialized" NOTE Messages

When creating a new SAS table containing the definitions of new columns, which do not contain any actual data, the following NOTE message(s) are produced in the log window.

NOTE: Variable st_date is uninitialized.

These messages can be removed by adding a CALL routine statement after your column definitions. This will initialise all of your columns to missing.

data create_new_vars;
  attrib st_date length=8 format=date9. informat=date9. 
					label='Start Date'
         en_date length=8 format=date9. informat=date9.
					label='End Date'
         var_one length=$2 format=$2.   informat=$2. 
					label='Variable One'
         var_two length=$10 format=$10. informat=$10. 
					label='Variable Two';
  call missing (of _all_);
run;

This method of avoiding uninitialised note messages should be used sparingly. When such messages do appear in the log, it is often an indication of mistyped column names or columns no longer needed.