Concepts: COPY Procedure

Transporting SAS Data Sets between Hosts

The COPY procedure, along with the XPORT engine and the XML engine, can create and read transport files that can be moved from one host to another. PROC COPY can create transport files only with SAS data sets, not with catalogs or other types of SAS files.

Transporting is a three-step process:

1. Use PROC COPY to copy one or more SAS data sets to a file that is created with either the transport (XPORT) engine or the XML engine. This file is referred to as a transport file and is always a sequential file.

2. After the file is created, you can move it to another operating environment via communications software, such as FTP, or tape. If you use communications software, be sure to move the file in binary format to avoid any type of conversion. If you are moving the file to a mainframe, the file must have certain attributes. Consult the SAS documentation for your operating environment and the SAS Technical Support Web page for more information.

3. After you have successfully moved the file to the receiving host, use PROC COPY to copy the data sets from the transport file to a SAS data library.

For an example, see Example 1 on page 276.

For details on transporting files, see Moving and Accessing SAS Files across Operating Environments .

The CPORT and CIMPORT procedures also provide a way to transport SAS files. For information, see Chapter 8, The CIMPORT Procedure, on page 213 and Chapter 13, The CPORT Procedure, on page 281.