Metadata in sas7bdat files

the_fabs — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 01:32:03 GMT

I have a series of 58 monthly survey data sets in sas7bdat format. When I open the data I see that categorical variables (columns) are coded with numeric values (e.g., male = 0, female = 1, etc.). I was wondering if sas7bdat files contain metadata where I could see things such a description of the data set, a description of the variables, or the coding of categorical variables. If that metadata exists, how can I see it? How can I export it? From my work with Stata and R, I know data sets can have this metadata. My main concerns is that the coding of any of the variables might change throughout the 58 data sets. So, I would prefer to have this variable coding in the metadata where I can work with it more easily than if I have to check for coding changes in the documentation.

Re: Metadata in sas7bdat files

Patrick — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 01:43:24 GMT

The only metadata available are the variable attributes like type, length, format,.... and constraints (if any).

You can easily report on this metadata using SAS

proc contents data=<libref>.<table name>;
run;quit;

or for all tables under a libref:
proc contents data=<libref>._all_;
run;quit;

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Metadata in sas7bdat files

Re: Metadata in sas7bdat files