topic Re: Invalid data set name error in SAS Programming

Invalid data set name error

mrahman — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:11:43 GMT

I am trying to execute the following code and getting the following error. The same code worked in the previous version of SAS but not working now. Any help is appreciated.

libname input 'D\';

data q4_2015;

set input.PUDF_base1_4q2015_tab.txt;

run;

ERROR: File WORK.PUDF_BASE1_4Q2015_TAB.DATA does not exist.

ERROR 211-185: Invalid data set name.

Re: Invalid data set name error

novinosrin — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:14:37 GMT

assuming that's a sas dataset ,should it be PUDF_base1_4q2015_tab excluding the .txt?

data q4_2015;

set input.PUDF_base1_4q2015_tab;

run;

Re: Invalid data set name error

mrahman — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:28:58 GMT

Thanks for your reply. Tried without the .txt but still get the same error. For some reason, it is appending. DATA at the end of the file name. Not sure if that has anything to do with the error or not.

652 data q4_2015;

653 set input.PUDF_base1_4q2015_tab;

ERROR: File INPUT.PUDF_BASE1_4Q2015_TAB.DATA does not exist.

654 run;

Re: Invalid data set name error

Tom — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:45:51 GMT

Do you really have a directory named D that is a sub-directory of whatever directory is the current working directory for your SAS process?

If so does it actually contain a file named 'pudf_base1_4q2015_tab.sas7bdat'?

Are you are running on Unix? Does the beginning of the filename really use uppercase letters? If so then SAS on Unix will not see that file since it is looking for the file with the lowercase letters in its name.

Re: Invalid data set name error

mrahman — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:49:09 GMT

I am trying to read .txt file on Windows machine. It is not a SAS file.

Re: Invalid data set name error

Kurt_Bremser — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 01:15:02 GMT

@mrahman wrote:
It is not a SAS file.

Then why are you trying to read it as one?

External files need to be imported, either with proc import or as infile (not set!) in a data step.

Re: Invalid data set name error

Reeza — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 02:36:28 GMT

You cannot reference a text file. You need to import it first, but that depends on the file structure.

You can try PROC IMPORT or the GUI to import a data set.

Or you can try a data step:

https://stats.idre.ucla.edu/sas/faq/how-do-i-read-in-a-delimited-ascii-file-in-sas/

@mrahman wrote:

I am trying to execute the following code and getting the following error. The same code worked in the previous version of SAS but not working now. Any help is appreciated.

libname input 'D\';

data q4_2015;

set input.PUDF_base1_4q2015_tab.txt;

run;

ERROR: File WORK.PUDF_BASE1_4Q2015_TAB.DATA does not exist.

ERROR 211-185: Invalid data set name.

Re: Invalid data set name error

mrahman — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 03:58:51 GMT

That worked! Thanks so much for the link.