topic Re: file permission in SAS Programming

file permission

VijayKumar — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:48:03 GMT

Hi experts,

I execute a data step using enterprise guide.

data newtable;

set existtab;

code statement1..

code statement2...

run;

after this data step is it possible to set desired read /write permission for this new table. (by using sas code only)?

(Like how we change read/write permission of a file with a Unix command on unix prompt -> chmod 666 filename; similarly can we do that using SAS code...???)

Re: file permission

ballardw — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:28:16 GMT

Proc Datasets with the modify statement may do what you are looking for depending upon the permission you want.

PROC DATASETS LIBRARY=libref MEMTYPE=member-type;
MODIFY member-name (password-level = password-modification);

run;

quit;

Password levels are READ=, WRITE=, ALTER= or PW=. The password can be different for each level.

Re: file permission

VijayKumar — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:06:21 GMT

Thanks Ballardw for your reply...

I looked at PROC DATASETS and I am a bit confused.. as READ=, WRITE=, ALTER= or PW=. are for giving passwords...

I will try to make my question more clear..

Suppose I have a dataset XYZ.sas7bdat

On unix system , when I do -> ls -ltr XYZ.sas7bdat

I get,

-rw------- ownername XYZ.sas7bdat

Now , as per your suggestions , after using PROC datasets, how can I get following ......

-rw-rw-rw- ownername XYZ.sas7bdat

Thanks !

Re: file permission

RichardinOz — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:59:57 GMT

You need to issue the unix chmod command to change permissions, using the SAS X command or one of it's cousins.

From memory it would be something like

X chmod 666 filename ;

which might have to be remote submitted

Richard

Re: file permission

RichardinOz — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:02:57 GMT

But if you are not the owner of the file and the permissions are -rw------- chmod will fail. You should talk to you IT guys about changing your user profile to create files with the required permissions.

Richard

Re: file permission

Dhaval12 — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 03:19:02 GMT

If you do not have permissions andnot the owner unix will not let you write to the file.

SAS code will error.

You may want to use,

filename chmod pipe "chmod 777 /home/source/datasetname.sas7bdat";
data _null_; file chmod; run;

Re: file permission

LinusH — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 16:20:46 GMT

Changing permissions after file creation is awkward. Consider setting default file permissions instead (umask).

Re: file permission

Dhaval12 — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 16:27:39 GMT

Yes that is also a good idea.
In live environments where we have end users with access to files it may just be helpful to give permissions once the entire job processing is complete.
Wouldn't want someone opening a file in SAS while process is running. May cause job to abend.
So the method you would want to use may be subjective to the type or environment setup and your process.