Formats and labels are user-defined tools that provide a convenient way to define variables in your SAS, SUDAAN, or Stata output. Formatting or value labeling is used to assign descriptive text names to numeric and character values of a variable. For example, the format name "yesno" for a variable with values 1 and 2, allows you to assign the word "Yes" to represent 1 and the word "No" to represent 2. Labeling, on the other hand, allows you to assign descriptive titles to variable names. For example, the variable "mean_sbp" can be given the label "Mean of Systolic Blood Pressure". Note that formatting and labeling variables is optional and does not need to be done for all variables in the dataset. However, it is especially useful for frequently used variables and for clarity in your output.
You will need to define custom formats or value labels for your dataset. These include the: