topic Import of csv data - limit regarding variables, observations, size of file? in SAS Programming

Import of csv data - limit regarding variables, observations, size of file?

SimoneBraun — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 10:34:03 GMT

import of csv file - is there a limit regarding the number of variables, observation, or size of csv file, that can be imported into SAS?

Re: Import of csv data - limit regarding variables, observations, size of file?

PaigeMiller — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 11:13:51 GMT

I don't think there are limits, or at least, I have never run into them.

Please be specific, how big is your CSV file, and what happens when you try to import it?

Re: Import of csv data - limit regarding variables, observations, size of file?

SimoneBraun — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 12:32:51 GMT

Thank you, Paige, for your quick response. We haven't got specifics yet, just expecing a huge study data file. I'll get back to you as soon as I know more.
Kind regards,
Simone

Re: Import of csv data - limit regarding variables, observations, size of file?

Tom — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 13:26:42 GMT

@SimoneBraun wrote:

import of csv file - is there a limit regarding the number of variables, observation, or size of csv file, that can be imported into SAS?

There should not be any limits on READING data from a CSV file. (Other than the storage limits on the machine where SAS is running). But I would be wary of using PROC IMPORT to GUESS how to read the file. Write your own data step to read the file based on the definitions of the variables that you have been provided by the creator of the file.

In particular PROC IMPORT will not be able to guess the variable names for a file with a header line that is longer than 32K bytes.

If you do need a tool for guessing how to read the CSV file you could use this macro: https://github.com/sasutils/macros/blob/master/csv2ds.sas