Hack 3.19 Moving SAS Data Sets with PROC COPY

SAS Programming Professionals,

Did you know that you can physically move a SAS data sets from one directory to another using PROC COPY?

Using PROC COPY obviates your having to move SAS data sets manually via Windows Explorer or SAS Explorer.  For example, let’s move a couple of SAS data sets from a temporary directory to a permanent directory:

libname templib "c:\temp";

libname mylib "H:\My Documents\My SAS Files\9.4";

proc copy in=templib out=mylib move;

      select air buy;

run;

In this example, we moved both the AIR and the BUY SAS data sets from the c:\temp directory to the H:\My Documents\My SAS Files\9.4 directory.  Thereafter, if we were to view the directories in Windows Explorer or SAS Explorer, we would see that they have indeed been moved.

There are a few other options that you may need to specify to successfully move SAS data sets that have additional features:

·        ALTER – Is used when you are using the MOVE option to move files that are have an ALTER password.

·        CLONE – Specifies whether to copy the following file characteristics to the file that is moved:

o   Input/output buffer size

o   Data set compression

o   Whether free space is reused in compressed data sets

o   Whether compressed data sets can be accessed by observation number

o   Data representation

o   Encoding value

·        CONSTRAINT = YES | NO – Copy existing integrity constraints when moving a data set.

·        FORCE – Must be used to MOVE a SAS data set that has an audit trail file.

·        INDEX = YES – Copy indexes for indexed data sets that are moved.

You would simply specify these options directly after the MOVE option as in the example, above.

The MOVE option provides a very handy way to have SAS programmatically move files between various data libraries.

Best of luck in all your SAS endeavors!

----MMMMIIIIKKKKEEEE

(aka Michael A. Raithel)

Excerpt from the book:  Did You Know That?  Essential Hacks for Clever SAS Programmers

http://www.amazon.com/Michael-A.-Raithel/e/B001K8GG90/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

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