Difference between table and tables in proc freq in sas

Question

Could anyone please tell the difference between table and tables in Proc freq with an example?

proc freq data= want;
table variable;
run;

proc freq data= want;
tables variable;
run;`

Answer 1

There is no difference. The statement is the TABLES statement, but SAS will silently accept TABLE as a synonym without issuing any warning or note. Some miss spellings will generate just a warning while others will cause an error.

1668  proc freq data= sashelp.class;
1669  tablex age name;
      ------
      1
WARNING 1-322: Assuming the symbol TABLE was misspelled as tablex.
1670  run;

NOTE: There were 19 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS.


1671
1672  proc freq data= sashelp.class;
1673  tabl age name;
      ----
      1
WARNING 1-322: Assuming the symbol TABLE was misspelled as tabl.
1674  run;

NOTE: There were 19 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS.


1675
1676  proc freq data= sashelp.class;
1677  tab age name;
      ---
      180
ERROR 180-322: Statement is not valid or it is used out of proper order.
1678  run;

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.