When you use the POINT= option, you must include a STOP STATEMENT to stop DATA step PROCESSING, programming logic that checks for an invalid value of the POINT= variable, or Both. Because POINT= reads only those observations that are specified in the DO statement, SAS cannot read an end-of-file indicator as it would if the file were being read SEQUENTIALLY. Because reading an end-of-file indicator ENDS a DATA step automatically, failure to substitute another means of ENDING the DATA step when you use POINT= can cause the DATA step to go into a continuous loop.

When you use the POINT= option, you must include a STOP statement to stop DATA step processing, programming logic that checks for an invalid value of the POINT= variable, or Both. Because POINT= reads only those observations that are specified in the DO statement, SAS cannot read an end-of-file indicator as it would if the file were being read sequentially. Because reading an end-of-file indicator ends a DATA step automatically, failure to substitute another means of ending the DATA step when you use POINT= can cause the DATA step to go into a continuous loop.