SVMACHINE Procedure

TARGET Statement

TARGET variable </options>;

The TARGET statement names the target variable whose values PROC SVMACHINE predicts. The target variable must be binary or interval, and it must be different from the variables in the INPUT statement.

You can specify following options after a slash (/):

LEVEL=INTERVAL | NOMINAL

specifies whether the specified target is continuous or categorical. You can specify the following values:

INTERVAL: specifies that the target is continuous and performs SVR training.
NOMINAL: specifies that the target is categorical and performs SVC training.

By default, LEVEL=NOMINAL.

For SVC training, you can also specify either of the following options to define how to levelize the target values. By default, the target values are levelized in descending order.

ASC ASCENDING: levelizes the target values in ascending order.
DESC DESCENDING: levelizes the target values in descending order.

Note: If you specify LEVEL=INTERVAL when METHOD=ACTIVESET or METHOD=CD, then PROC SVMACHINE issues an error message and stops.

Last updated: September 23, 2026