What is the function of "case" in this codes?

[CathyVI]

Hi,

I saw a similar code online.

What is the function of "case" in this codes? what are they use for?

data want;
set have;
if a ne . then come=1; else come=0;
if b ne . then go=1;else go=0;
if c ne . then home=1;else home=0;
case=1;
run;

data want2;
set have2;
if a ne . then come=1;else come=0;
if b ne . then go=1;else go=0;
if c ne . then home=1;else home=0;
case=0;
run;

[Reeza]

It's a variable and being set to a constant across all the data.

[CathyVI]

@Reeza Thank you. Are there resources you can share or direct me to for better knowledge?

[SASKiwi]

SAS documentation is here: SAS Help Center: SAS Help Center: Welcome

Check out free SAS training resources here: New SAS User

[Reeza]

In this case not really, it's base knowledge. 

It's a simple assignment operation (case=1). The fact that the variable is called case may be confusing and bad design because CASE often means something else in programming. 
However, the best method to test this is to run it and examine the input and output data in my opinion.

[Astounding]

In the program you have shown, CASE is totally useless. However, it is possible (even likely) that CASE actually gets used later, in programming steps that you have not posted. If you want to know about the purpose of CASE, show how it gets used later.

[Tom]

CASE is the name of a variable.

What does the variable mean?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Spoiler

My guess is that the data in WANT represent the cases and the data in WANT2 represent the controls.  I suspect at some point there will be some statistical testing to see if the cases are different than the controls.