topic Re: Text file in SAS Programming

Text file

lola — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 18:13:01 GMT

Using inherited code, created a large (6.5m KB) text file, that is too large to open in notepad or word pad. It will be forwarded as a backup file to institutions requesting the data. How do I open it to view what they will receive or more to the point how will they open it?

I reviewed the set file but not meaningful. I want to review the file content. Help?

Re: Text file

PGStats — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 18:52:04 GMT

Given that no one ever provides a correct answer to your questions, I'm not even going to try. - PG

Re: Text file

lola — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:02:26 GMT

I am unsure about your response, but thank you for replying.

I have gotten many great answers and correct direction on this forum. If my gratefulness has not been clear, I readily provide now. Thanks again.

Re: Text file

Reeza — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:08:17 GMT

lola wrote:

created a large (6.5m KB) text file, that is too large to open in notepad or word pad.

What is that, 6.5 MB? 6.5 GB?

Try Notepad++, or use unix commands such as head to look at a few lines at a time.

You can also look into grep if you're looking for particular fields.

The best thing to do is actually run the process that would generate a test file and then run your big file once you're sure it's what you need.

Re: Text file

Reeza — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:10:21 GMT

As to how they open it, if they don't know that and you don't know that why are you giving them a large text file?

Re: Text file

Haikuo — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:31:43 GMT

You will have two general approaches:

1. To break it up. In linux, just use split command. In windows, there are several utilities free for you to download, such as HJSplit.

2. Look for a text viewer or editor than can 'stream' in text content instead of loading them into memory once for all. There are also many options, I have used Ultraedit to open 700M text file before, and you can also check out "large text file viewer" (yes, that is the literal name) or EmEditor etc.

Good Luck,

Haikuo

Re: Text file

lola — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:38:16 GMT

1KB is = to 1000 bytes, from what I understand. Why is because this is inherited code that I am being directed to run without guidance. "This is how they have always done it." Just a tad frustrating. Getting guidance from a forum is new to me, so I appreciate all assistance. Thanks! Oh and running in windows. Yes, to running a test file, I thought that as well since it is run now as a null dataset.

Re: Text file

lola — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:39:43 GMT

Ok! Thanks. I will reread this and follow. Good direction! Appreciate...

Re: Text file

Astounding — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:40:36 GMT

I think what PG Stats is referring to is that you can mark the answers you receive as "Correct" or "Helpful". Those who provide answers look forward to getting that form of feedback.

Here's a quick and dirty way to examine a portion of a file, using SAS:

data _null_;

infile 'path to file';

input;

if _n_ < 1000 then list;

else stop;

run;

You can easily change the range of rows to examine, such as:

if (20050 <= _n_ <= 20923) then list;

else if _n_ > 20923 then stop;

Good luck.

Re: Text file

lola — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:46:04 GMT

Thanks so much for letting me know about how to best provide feedback! I will do that first here now and then get back to your message.

Re: Text file

lola — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 19:51:42 GMT

I only see "reply" and "Liked" as available options, so used those. Do not see "correct" or "helpful." I will explore that/those later. Thanks again.

Re: Text file

Reeza — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:12:37 GMT

Go to the main discussion page, not the update/summary page to see those options.

Re: Text file

Community_Help — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 21:20:25 GMT

Hi lola, thanks for being part of this community - and Welcome!

Thank you all for wanting to mark answers correct/helpful.. and thank you to you all for helping lola. If you have any questions just let me know.

Re: Text file

Kurt_Bremser — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 07:58:38 GMT

Notepad++ and UltraEdit if working on Windows.

head -number_of_lines and/or tail -number_of_lines on UNIX to inspect the contents, split to split the file into digestable pieces.

Which application is used by the "institutions" to process the file?

Re: Text file

Peter_C — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 09:13:28 GMT

Iola

if you have base SAS (not Enterprise Guide and not SAS Studio) you can easily open that file with code

PROC FSLIST FILE= "your very large file" ;

RUN ;

Re: Text file

lola — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:03:13 GMT

Thank you Kurt. Looking at the brief notes for this program, this is MACRO data, and one receiver is Library of Congress. It is imperative I explore every aspect possible for delivering this data, upon request.

Re: Text file

lola — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:04:18 GMT

Thank you.

Re: Text file

lola — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 13:27:09 GMT

Yes, base sas. Thank you!

Re: Text file

lola — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:25:42 GMT

Peter, so I tried:

PROC FSLIST FILE= "D:\Users\\xyz.txt" ;

RUN ;

The program continues to run for a very long time. The prgm to generate took an hour, so I let this run an hour and it says it is still running, but I can click and make changes in the program, so apparently not. Any detectable syntax issue? Or am I missing a no-brainer? Thank you.

Re: Text file

lola — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:44:51 GMT

I should add that a separate window with the name FSLIST: 😧 pathname does generate and a blank slate. Thank you.