SAS Program in Blue & Black color using PC SAS 9.2 and EG SAS 4.2

[deleted_user]

My co-worker noticed when looking at his files of SAS programs in the directory and one of his programs was listed in the black color font while typically all others SAS programs were listed in a blue color font. Do you happen to know why? All of his SAS programs were currently used in the last week and the size of the SAS programs was 18 to 41 KB. Also we are using Enterprise Guide SAS 4.2 and storing our SAS 9.2 programs.

Thanks for your help,
SassyMom

[Doc_Duke]

That's part of Windows, not SAS. Blue indicates that a file is compressed and black that it is not compressed. You can have files that are compressed and not compressed in the same directory. I'm not sure of the nuances of how Windows decides to store files (sometimes the settings that I think are global seem to be ignored).

For SAS programs it won't make much difference. For SAS datasets, there can be significant savings in disk space and potentially in data transfer speed by compressing the data.

Doc Muhlbaier
Duke

[deleted_user]

This makes sense, Duke, that Windows is directing the font change and SAS is not changing the font.

Thanks--Duke

[SASKiwi]

If you look at the properties of one of the blue coloured files in Windows Explorer (right-click properties, then click the Advanced option) you will see that the Compress contents check box is ticked. This is something you can do yourself file by file, but more typically at directory or drive level to compress files to save space.

With large SAS datasets you can compress them up to half their original size as well as improving I/O performance. We have been able to delay a major disk upgrade by using this Windows option (on top of SAS compression).