Import asc file question: Why does it work with a file reference, but not with (the same!) path?

[AnnaBaukje]

Hi!

I'm having trouble to understand why this does work:

FILENAME asc0808 FILESRVC

    FOLDERPATH='/07. Team/02.Development/Case1'

    FILENAME='2019.08.08_mutations.asc';

data a1;

    infile asc0808 delimiter = '|' dsd lrecl=1000 firstobs=1;

    informat onbewerkt $1000.;

    format onbewerkt $1000.;

    input onbewerkt;

run;

And this does not

data a1;

    infile '/07. Team/02.Development/Case1/2019.08.08_mutations.asc' delimiter = '|' dsd lrecl=1000 firstobs=1;

    informat onbewerkt $1000.;

    format onbewerkt $1000.;

    input onbewerkt;

run;

The error message is: Physical file does not exist, '/07. Team/02.Development/Case1/2019.08.08_mutations.asc'

This is the exact location I see when I look at the properties of the file reference of asc0808

Can anybody explain? To me I'm doing exactly the same, but apparently not...

Thanks!

[Shmuel]

Pay attention, that in first code:

     FILENAME asc0808 FILESRVC

there is a definition of the engine need to open the file.

Without assigning an engine SAS tries to open a text file.

[Kurt_Bremser · Accepted solution]

The FILESRVC device type is needed to access files in the SAS Viya Files service. From my research in the SAS documentation, this device type seems to be available in FILENAME statements, but not in INFILE statements.

The location you specify in the FILENAME FILESRVC statement is not a physical one in a filesystem, but rather a virtual one in the Files service database. Therefore it will not work in a "normal" INFILE statement.