The MPS-Format Data Table
Length of Variables
In an MPS-format data table, the variables field2, field3, and field5 hold the names of the rows and columns. The length of these character variables is limited to the maximum size of a SAS character variable. This enables you to use sufficiently long names for the rows and columns in your model.
In a data table generated by the %MPS2SASD macro, the length of the variables field2, field3, and field5 is fixed to be 8 ASCII characters by default. This length fits the fixed-format MPS/QPS file well because field 2, field 3, and field 5 are fixed at 8 characters. However, the free-format MPS/QPS files might have longer row names or longer column names. The %MPS2SASD macro provides a parameter MAXLEN=n. Using this parameter, you can set the variables field2, field3, and field5 to have a length of n characters in the output data table.
The parameter MAXLEN works only when the given MPS file is in free format. For a fixed-format MPS file, this parameter is ignored and the length of field2, field3, and field5 is 8 characters by default.