topic Re: SAS fcopy failing to copy .xls file (creates corrupted 1KB file) in SAS Programming

SAS fcopy failing to copy .xls file (creates corrupted 1KB file)

ussas_15 — Fri, 01 May 2026 14:40:49 GMT

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to copy an Excel file (.xls) from one folder to another on the same drive using SAS, but I’m running into an issue.

Here’s the code I’m using:

filename in1 "H:\folder1\file1.xls";
filename ou1 "H:\folder2\file1.xls";

data _null_;
  rc = fcopy("in1", "ou1");
  if rc = 0 then put 'Copy successful';
  else put 'Copy failed';
run;

What’s happening:

On the first run, a file does get created in the destination folder with today’s timestamp, but it’s corrupted and only ~1KB in size (original file is ~13KB).
I deleted the corrupted file and ran the code again, but this time no file was created at all.
In both cases, the log shows: “Copy failed”

Has anyone encountered this issue before or knows what might be causing fcopy to fail like this? Are there any additional checks or alternative approaches I should consider? Any troubleshooting ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Re: SAS fcopy failing to copy .xls file (creates corrupted 1KB file)

ChrisHemedinger — Fri, 01 May 2026 14:56:26 GMT

What version of SAS are you using? I know that FCOPY has improved in later versions to handle more cases.

But for an immediate solution of your problem, try an alternative approach to perform a binary copy of the file.

https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/2013/09/17/copy-file-macro/

Re: SAS fcopy failing to copy .xls file (creates corrupted 1KB file)

Tom — Fri, 01 May 2026 16:19:36 GMT

XLS files are BINARY files. So make sure to tell SAS that.

You can try RECFM=N as suggested by @ChrisHemedinger 's blog post.

filename in1 "H:\folder1\file1.xls" recfm=N;
filename ou1 "H:\folder2\file1.xls" recfm=N;

Or use RECFM=F and LRECL=512.

Re: SAS fcopy failing to copy .xls file (creates corrupted 1KB file)

Ksharp — Sat, 02 May 2026 02:39:11 GMT

You also could try this code:

%let in1=H:\folder1\file1.xls;
%let ou1=H:\folder2\file1.xls;

data _null_;
rc=rename("&in1","&ou1",'file');
run;

Re: SAS fcopy failing to copy .xls file (creates corrupted 1KB file)

yabwon — Sat, 02 May 2026 12:46:01 GMT

filename in1 "H:\folder1\file1.xls" lrecl=1 recfm=N;
filename ou1 "H:\folder2\file1.xls" lrecl=1 recfm=N;

data _null_;
  rc = fcopy("in1", "ou1");
  if rc = 0 then put 'Copy successful';
            else put 'Copy failed';
run;