If you want to reference a file in only one place in a program so that you can easily change it for another job or a later run, you can reference a filename indirectly. Use a FILENAME statement, the FILENAME function, or an appropriate operating system command to assign a fileref or nickname, to a file. [*] Note that you can assign a fileref to a SAS catalog that is an external file, or to an output device, as shown in the following table.
External File Task | Tool | Example |
---|---|---|
Assign a fileref to a file that contains input data. | FILENAME | filename mydata ' input-file' ; |
Assign a fileref to a file for output data. | FILENAME | filename myreport ' output-file' ; |
Assign a fileref to a file that contains program statements. | FILENAME | filename mypgm ' source-file' ; |
Assign a fileref to an output device. | FILENAME | filename myprinter < device-type >< host-options >; |
Specify the file that contains input data. | INFILE | data weight; infile mydata; input idno $ week1 week16; loss=week1-week16; |
Specify the file that the PUT statement writes to. | FILE | file myreport; if loss ge 5 and loss le 9 then put idno loss 'AWARD STATUS=3'; else if loss ge 10 and loss le 14 then put idno loss 'AWARD STATUS=2'; else if loss ge 15 then put idno loss 'AWARD STATUS=1'; run; |
Bring statements or raw data from another file into your SAS job and execute them. | %INCLUDE | %include mypgm; |
[*] In some operating environments, you canalso usethe command '&'to assign afileref.