Identify business keys without opening the dataset

[David_Billa]

Is there a way to identify the business keys of a SAS dataset without opening it?

[Kurt_Bremser]

Define "business key".

Technically, you can't do it without the SAS system accessing the dataset(s), as (e.g.) using dictionary.columns forces SAS to read the dataset header.

But from within SAS, using dictionary.columns to search for variables that satisfy certain conditions is the way to go.

[David_Billa]

You can query/access the dataset without opening manually opening the data
set.

We have defined business key using SCD type 2 transformation

[PeterClemmensen]

Depends on what you consider a 'business key'?

[Patrick]

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@David_Billa wrote:
Is there a way to identify the business keys of a SAS dataset without opening it?

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That's about "know your data". Especially when doing ETL/DIS you need to know upfront how your source data structures look like, what can be missing or not, which columns make up keys.