topic Re: Error while using rename function. in SAS Programming

Error while using rename function.

renjithr — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:48:47 GMT

Hi,

I am trying to rename a .txt file on my desktop. I ran the below code but I got the error that 'Invalid file name'.

Could you please let me know what I am doing wrong:

data tt;

rc=rename('C:\Users\user1\Desktop\Test\testf.txt', 'C:\Users\archive\test2.txt', 'file');

put 'RC:' rc;
if rc then _msg_=sysmsg();

run;

Re: Error while using rename function.

mkeintz — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:21:58 GMT

Are you forgetting a username in the first argument of the rename function?

I.e.

~~rc=rename('C:\Users\myusername\Desktop\Test\testf.txt', 'C:\Users\archive\test2.txt', 'file');~~

rc=rename('C:\Users\myusername\Desktop\Test\testf.txt', 'C:\Users\myusername\archive\test2.txt', 'file');

Re: Error while using rename function.

Tom — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:58:17 GMT

If SAS is just calling the native Windows RENAME command then it does not allow changing the path of the file. Just the name of the file in the same directory.

Re: Error while using rename function.

mkeintz — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:59:57 GMT

I used this code to successfully "rename" a file from c:\temp\t.txt to c:\temp\tmp\t.txt, so I guess it's not actually calling the windows rename command.

Re: Error while using rename function.

renjithr — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:05:34 GMT

For some reason my code is not working. I tried renaming a directory and it worked but not the file renaming.

Re: Error while using rename function.

Reeza — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:09:49 GMT

Post your code and log.

What version of SAS are you using, are you certain the function is available in your version?

Re: Error while using rename function.

art297 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:18:40 GMT

I noticed that you added the username (i.e., user1) in the from name, but you didn't do that for the to name:

rc=rename('C:\Users\user1\Desktop\Test\testf.txt', 'C:\Users\archive\test2.txt', 'file');

Should the to name have been: C:\Users\user1\archive\test2.txt' abd does that directory exist (i.e., C:\Users\user1\archive )?

Art, CEO, AnalystFinder.com

Re: Error while using rename function.

mkeintz — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:20:18 GMT

@art297 wrote:

I noticed that you added the username (i.e., user1) in the from name, but you didn't do that for the to name:

rc=rename('C:\Users\user1\Desktop\Test\testf.txt', 'C:\Users\archive\test2.txt', 'file');

Should the to name have been: C:\Users\user1\archive\test2.txt' abd does that directory exist (i.e., C:\Users\user1\archive )?

Art, CEO, AnalystFinder.com

@art297

Absolutely!

Will modify my note.

Thx

Re: Error while using rename function.

renjithr — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:21:45 GMT

Here is my code:

data tt;
rc=rename('C:\Users\user1\Desktop\Test\testf.txt', 'C:\Users\user1\Desktop\Test\test2.txt', 'file');
put 'RC:' rc;
if rc then _msg_=sysmsg();

run;

I am using SAS 9.4

Thanks,

Re: Error while using rename function.

mkeintz — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:23:00 GMT

And the log showing the error message?

Re: Error while using rename function.

renjithr — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:24:53 GMT

Here you go:

682 data tt;
1683 rc=rename('C:\Users\user1\Desktop\Test\testf.txt', 'C:\Users\user1\Desktop\Test\test2.txt',
1683! 'file');
1684 put 'RC:' rc;
1685 if rc then _msg_=sysmsg();
1686 put _msg_;
1687
1688 run;

RC:1
ERROR: Invalid physical name.
NOTE: The data set WORK.TT has 1 observations and 2 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
real time 0.01 seconds
cpu time 0.00 seconds

Re: Error while using rename function.

mkeintz — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:40:56 GMT

Thank you for posting the log.

Some conjectures:

Are you running the program under the userid whose desktop contents is being renamed. Would that create a permission issue masquerading as a physical file not exist message?
Is your desktop screen showing a shortcut instead of a file?
Is the file really there? Perhaps you could pipe input from a dir command to see if the dataset name is exactly as the rename command expects? I.e.

    filename dslist pipe 'dir/b c:\Users\user1\Desktop\Test';
    data filenames;
      infile dslist truncover;
      input fname :$60.;
      if fname='testf.txt' then found=1;
      put fname=;
    run;

If found never=1 then I guess the file really isn't there.

Re: Error while using rename function.

art297 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 19:47:16 GMT

I agree with @mkeintz. The function even works on SAS UniversityEdition. e.g. the following worked perfectly:

data tt;
  rc=rename('/folders/myfolders/users/user1/desktop/test/testf.txt', '/folders/myfolders/users/user1/desktop/test/test2.txt', 'file');
  put 'RC:' rc;
  if rc then _msg_=sysmsg();
run;
;

Art, CEO, AnalystFinder.com

Re: Error while using rename function.

renjithr — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 20:01:35 GMT

Thank you @mkeintz and @art297 for your suggestions. Yes, the file name was wrong..the extension was .txt' instead of .txt

I changed it and now it is working fine.

Thanks again!