topic Re: how to read a zip xport file without having to unzip it ? in SAS Enterprise Guide

how to read a zip xport file without having to unzip it ?

alepage — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:09:02 GMT

Hello,

Is there a way to first use a Unix command to the content of the zip file ?
Is there a way to read the xport file in work without having to unzip it ?

Please provide the SAS Code

Here's my script which works correctly but I need to unzip into the temp folder the use the libname xport

%let pathbebill=/dwh_actuariat/sasdata_controlled/current/be/othr/bel.prod0030.saf3fm.data;
%let fname=saf3fm_billing.zip;
%let work=%sysfunc(pathname(work));
%let path=/finsys/bicoe/users/rpnna322/Temp/;
%let outputfile=SAF3FM.XPORT;

filename oscmd pipe "unzip -d &path. -o &pathbebill./&fname. 2>&1";

data _null_;
infile oscmd;
input;
put _infile_;
run;

libname myxport xport "&path./&outputfile.";

proc copy inlib=myxport out=work;
run;

How to read the xport file witout having to unzip it ?

Re: how to read a zip xport file without having to unzip it ?

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:19:08 GMT

From the documentation, it seems that a physical filename must be used for the target file, so you cannot use a file reference created with the ZIP option there. This means you have to unzip first.

Re: how to read a zip xport file without having to unzip it ?

alepage — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:24:50 GMT

filename oscmd pipe "unzip -l /dwh_actuariat/sasdata_controlled/current/be/othr/bel.prod0030.saf3fm.data/saf3fm_billing.zip 2>&1";

data _null_;
infile oscmd;
input;
put _infile_;
run;

What I am getting:

Archive:  /dwh_actuariat/sasdata_controlled/current/be/othr/bel.prod0030.saf3fm.data/saf3fm_billing.zip
  Length      Date    Time    Name
---------  ---------- -----   ----
297385440  07-30-2025 06:06   SAF3FM.XPORT
---------                     -------
297385440                     1 file

Is there a way to put the file name into a macro function and execute the next unix command in work as we may have the file name ?

Re: how to read a zip xport file without having to unzip it ?

Kurt_Bremser — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:41:45 GMT

You can parse the output of the unzip command for the "XPORT" word and then extract the filename:

if index(_infile_,"XPORT")
then call symputx("fname",scan(_infile_,-1));

Re: how to read a zip xport file without having to unzip it ?

yabwon — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 15:44:10 GMT

How about something like this:

%let outputfile=SAF3FM.XPORT;
%let work=%sysfunc(pathname(WORK));

/* create a ZIP file with some content */

/* create xport file */
libname myxport xport "&work./&outputfile.";
data myxport.iris;
  set sashelp.iris(rename=(Species=SPEC SepalLength=SL SepalWidth=SW PetalLength=PL PetalWidth=PW));
run;

/* copy xport file into zip */
/* in */
filename A "&work./&outputfile." lrecl=1 recfm=N;
/* out */
filename B ZIP "&work./myFile.zip" member="&outputfile." lrecl=1 recfm=N;

data _null_;
  rc=fcopy("A","B");
  put rc=;
run;

And then:

/* get data from the zip file */

%let path=%sysfunc(pathname(WORK));
%let outputfile=SAF3FM.XPORT;

filename C ZIP "&path./myFile.zip" member="&outputfile." lrecl=1 recfm=N;
filename D "&work./&outputfile." lrecl=1 recfm=N;

data _null_;
  rc=fcopy("C","D");
  put rc=;
run;

libname myxport xport "&path./&outputfile.";

proc copy inlib=myxport out=work;
run;

Bart

Re: how to read a zip xport file without having to unzip it ?

Tom — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 19:28:38 GMT

Not with the XPORT libref engine.

Did you try using the %XPT2LOC() autocall macro that SAS provides instead?

filename myxport zip
 "/dwh_actuariat/sasdata_controlled/current/be/othr/bel.prod0030.saf3fm.data/saf3fm_billing.zip"
  member="SAF3FM.XPORT"
;
%xpt2loc(filespec=myxport)

If that doesn't work then try using this macro instead

https://github.com/sasutils/macros/blob/master/xport2sas.sas

%xport2sas(myxport)