topic PROC COPY error when input dataset name has special character in SAS Procedures

PROC COPY error when input dataset name has special character

Helle — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:20:04 GMT

Hi,

I wanted to use PROC COPY for copying a dataset but received an error after submitting the following:

proc copy out=work in=ntsqlpro;
select LÅN_GARANTI;
quit;

ERROR: The value 'LÅN_GARANTI'n is not a valid SAS name.

I am running 9.1.3. I assume that it is because of the special character in the original dataset name. Is there a way to circumvent this or is it not possible to use PROC COPY with special characters? I googled the web for explanations but didn't come across any.

Thanks,

Helle

Re: PROC COPY error when input dataset name has special character

art297 — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:59:48 GMT

Works fine for me. My guess is that you have the wrong value set for your validvarname option.

Try options validvarname=v7 and see if that corrects the problem.

HTH,
Art

Re: PROC COPY error when input dataset name has special character

ArtC — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:51:39 GMT

It is hard to tell, but it looks like the A in LAN is not the standard English A. This would require VALIDVARNAME to be set to ANY. You may also need to write the SELECT statement as:
[pre]
select 'LAN_GARANTI'n;
[/pre]
where you use the A that is not on my keyboard.

Re: PROC COPY error when input dataset name has special character

Peter_C — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:12:26 GMT

Helle

you need to change the name of the table if you want to copy it into the WORK library. Although SAS/Access to a dbms supports complex names like your table, that flexibility is not present in the support of table names in the (base SAS) WORK library.
You might have more success with a simple data step, like[pre]DATA work.loan_garanti ;
set ntsqlpro."LÅN_GARANTI"n ;
run ;[/pre]
good luck
peterC

Re: PROC COPY error when input dataset name has special character

Helle — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:49:09 GMT

Hi,

In the end, I opted for the simple data step solution because I still received the same error message even after changing the options and modifying the code. Thanks for all your input.

Helle