对于character variable 来说， the length of a variable always define automatically in the first statement and remain unchanged during the whole program until and unless we redefine it. 按照这个说法，为什么123题中的第64题答案是A不是12。虽然说work department的data set中character variable的length是5，可是在程序中有“length jobcode$ 12”的语句，不就等于重新redefine了吗？那么答案不应该是12吗？

The following SAS DATA step is submitted:
data work.accountting;
set work.department;
length jobcode$ 12;
run;
The WORK.DEPARTMENT SAS data set contains a character variable named
JOBCODE with a length of 5.
Which one of the following is the length of the variable JOBCODE in the output
data set?
A. 5
B. 8
C. 12
D. The length can not be determined as the program fails to execute due to errors.