topic Re: NOTE: Unable to open parameter catalog: SASUSER.PARMS.PARMS.SLIST in update mode. Temporary para in SAS Programming

NOTE: Unable to open parameter catalog: SASUSER.PARMS.PARMS.SLIST in update mode. Temporary paramete

slolaysas — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 18:42:54 GMT

I am getting two different messages using PROC IMPORT (attached log).

I have tested both and I get different messages based on if it a csv or xlxs file in the proc import. When I use a csv file I get the following note:

NOTE: Unable to open parameter catalog: SASUSER.PARMS.PARMS.SLIST in update mode. Temporary parameter values will be saved to WORK.PARMS.PARMS.SLIST.

If I run the code using xlsx file as the input into the proc import it works ok.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Re: NOTE: Unable to open parameter catalog: SASUSER.PARMS.PARMS.SLIST in update mode. Temporary para

Kurt_Bremser — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:07:44 GMT

The NOTE is issued when a DATA step is created and executed, something that does not happen with spreadsheet files. It is just a consequence of the fact that the SASUSER library is not writable nowadays. You can safely ignore it.

Re: NOTE: Unable to open parameter catalog: SASUSER.PARMS.PARMS.SLIST in update mode. Temporary para

Tom — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 23:42:17 GMT

It is a design bug in the tool that PROC IMPORT uses to analyze the CSV file and guess how to generate a data step to read it. For some strange unexplained reason it is attempting to store something into that SASUSER.PARMS.PARMS.SLIST object even when you are running with the RSASUSER option. And even more strangely it feels a need to tell you about it instead of just silently using the WORK library instead.

It does not cause any actual problems, just the annoying message.

If you want to avoid the message do not use PROC IMPORT to read CSV files. Either write your own data step to read them. Or use some other tool to analyze the CSV file and guess how to read it. https://github.com/sasutils/macros/blob/master/csv2ds.sas

Re: NOTE: Unable to open parameter catalog: SASUSER.PARMS.PARMS.SLIST in update mode. Temporary para

slolaysas — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:07:18 GMT

Thanks