Issues an operating environment command during a SAS session and returns the system return code
Category: Special
See: SYSTEM Function in the documentation for your operating environment.
SYSTEM ( command )
command
specifies any of the following: a system command that is enclosed in quotation marks (explicit character string), an expression whose value is a system command, or the name of a character variable whose value is a system command that is executed.
Operating Environment Information: See the SAS documentation for your operating environment for information on what you can specify. The system return code is dependent on your operating environment.
Restriction: The length of the command cannot be greater than 1024 characters , including trailing blanks.
The SYSTEM function is similar to the X statement, the X command, and the CALL SYSTEM routine. In most cases, the X statement, X command, or %SYSEXEC macro statement are preferable because they require less overhead. However, the SYSTEM function can be executed conditionally, and accepts expressions as arguments. The X statement is a global statement and executes as a DATA step is being compiled, regardless of whether SAS encounters a conditional statement.
Execute the host command TIMEDATA if the macro variable SYSDAY is Friday .
data _null_; if "&sysday"="Friday" then do; rc=system("timedata"); end; else rc=system("errorck"); run;
CALL Routine:
'CALL SYSTEM Routine' on page 406
Statement:
'X Statement' on page 1435