topic Re: Export a 1 column SAS dataset to a TEXT file while respecting the special characters in the colu in SAS Programming

Export a 1 column SAS dataset to a TEXT file while respecting the special characters in the column?

TPlevney17 — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 22:55:47 GMT

Hi everyone,

My task is to modify an existing SAS program file by adding a line for version control each time our programs are validated. I have a program in place that currently is able to read in the original .SAS file as a SAS dataset with one column. I do some manipulation to achieve the required program text for the new program version but do not know how to export this dataset column to a .SAS file. I know that .SAS files are essentially just .TXT files, so I am trying to use proc export to output this column to a .TXT file and will then convert the .TXT file to a .SAS file using %sysexec commands.

Here is the code that I am currently using:

filename file_out "C:\test.txt";
proc export data=final
outfile= file_out
dbms=dlm replace;
delimiter='';
putnames=no;
run;

However, this code is outputting a .TXT file that has quotes wrapped around all records that are not "stripped". Is there a way to get around this and have the proc export respect records with leading tabs or spaces and not modify the string to contain extra quotations?

Thank you

Re: Export a 1 column SAS dataset to a TEXT file while respecting the special characters in the colu

ballardw — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:14:17 GMT

Please show some data and what the expected file should look like.

Proc export may not be the proper tool.

If by column you mean a variable try this:

data _null_;
   set final;
   file file_out;
   put variablename;
run;

You should have looked in the log and seen something similar to this there.

If your variable is really long you might have to set the LRECL= on the FILE statement to a value long to hold a long string.

If the file is actual a SAS program file is there a reason you do not name it with the .SAS extension?

Re: Export a 1 column SAS dataset to a TEXT file while respecting the special characters in the colu

TPlevney17 — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 16:59:58 GMT

Thank you for your reply. After playing around for a while I was able to get the file to output correctly while respecting the leading tabs and spaces with the following code: