Lesson 2: Accessing Data using Proc Contents to view attributes of storm summary dataset

[rakesht]

Hi,

I was following the captioned tutorial under the free course  SAS® Programming 1: Essentials. The activity asked to perform as below:

 "  Open a new program window and perform the following tasks:

• Write a PROC CONTENTS step to generate a report of the storm_summary.sas7bdat table.
  
  • SAS Studio: Specify the path to your EPG194/data folder and the full name of the table.
  • Enterprise Guide: Specify &path and the full name of the table.  "

What i did first was that I manually opened the foilder containing the above file from "My Computer" and then got its file directory from its properties. 

I then copied the same directory in the Proc Contents step and executed it as per the instructions. SAS code is as below:

proc contents data="E:\SASUniversityEdition\myfolders\EPG194/storm_summary.sas7bdat";
run;

Then i got an error message which i have attached as Attachment 1

Subsequently I figured out the file location by accessing it through the SAS Studio  and found the location address which I have attached as Attachment 2.  The address is "/folders/myfolders/EPG194/data/storm_summary.sas7bdat" . By copy pasting this address, into the Proc contents code, i could get the summary table.

But my question is that why did the original file path which i took from the My Computer did not work and why the other file path which i got from SAS studio only worked. Moreover  the file path mentioned in SAS studio started with /folders, whereas in reality the "My Folders" folder was not created in any such folder by name "folders". 

How would a new learner be able to figure out this file path logic ? or how would a new comer be able to write the file path without viewing it through the GUI by clicking the properties ?

[Cynthia_sas · Accepted solution]

The original path did NOT work because your Virtual Machine that has SAS is a Unix machine. The Shared Folder location that you created when you installed University Edition is how your Virtual Box software knows where your data is so that SAS, inside the Virtual Machine can use your data.

In the video for how to make the data and in the course, we tell you to find the data folder in SAS Studio and right-click on the folder and choose Properties. The path you need is shown in the Location field of the Properties window.

Later in the course, we will show you how to use a LIBNAME statement so you don't need to keep using the full operating system path. In the future, do not use any part of a Windows, local machine path. The instructions for SAS University Edition, when you made the data, had you do this same right-click and look at Properties to get the correct path for the creation program.

You MUST find the file path when you're starting out by clicking to find the Properties. That's the only absolutely correct way to do it. When you are using SAS on the job, you'll have to do something similar or the data administrator will have to tell you the correct file path.

Cynthia

Cynthia

[rakesht]

Thank you so much !

[rguit102]

Im having a similar issue but i have the correct file name and getting this error message

could you let me know what I am doing wrong?

[VDD]

you have to use the same / for unix or \ for windows systems.

proc contents data="E:\SASUniversityEdition\myfolders\EPG194/storm_summary.sas7bdat";
run;

try this

proc contents data="E:\SASUniversityEdition\myfolders\EPG194\storm_summary.sas7bdat";
run;

[rakesht]

No this did not work.

[Cynthia_sas]

Hi:
You CANNOT use a local Windows path location with SAS University Edition. This will NOT work. When using SAS University Edition, you MUST use the shared folder location, as you see it when you check the Properties for the data folder in SAS Studio. If you followed ALL of our instructions, that path should be:
data="/folders/myfolders/EPG194/data/storm_summary.sas7bdat";

and, if you are using SAS OnDemand for Academics and followed all the instructions, the location would be:

data="/home/<yourUserID>/EPG194/data/storm_summary.sas7bdat";

That means if YOUR UserID is imastudent0 then the path would be:

data="/home/imastudent0/EPG194/data/storm_summary.sas7bdat";

You can ONLY use a Windows path if you are using SAS or Enterprise Guide with a local install of SAS.

Cynthia