Mainframe to Unix

[Tal]

Hi
If I m.running sas on Unix can i still import or read in files from mainframe or even my local.machine?

Thx

[SASKiwi · Accepted solution]

What sort of files? Data files, SAS datasets or something else? If mainframe data files then you need to be very careful as they could contain mainframe-specific data formats like packed decimal or packed binary. You can still read these on Unix if you transfer them from the mainframe in binary format. If the files are just text or numbers then probably a non-binary transfer would be OK. Reading PC files is no issue as both Unix and PCs use the ASCII data representation standard. Mainframe uses EBCDIC  

[Tal]

Yea simple data files ( text n numbers)
So i can read them in in a date step but i cannot import them?

[ballardw]

Both should work if either one does. I suspect there may be some fun involved with paths though. And servers can throw in complications as the paths have to be as seen by the server.

I'm not fond of Proc Import as there is too much guessing going on.

[Tal]

And if i need to read them in as a binary file how do i specify it. Is it with the infile statement ?

[SASKiwi]

You would have to copy your data files to Unix first perhaps using FTP with the BINARY option then use the S370**** informats on your SAS INPUT statement to read the data.

[Tal]

Thank you all! Much appreciated

[Tal]

They already have the paths in the code but they been running it on EG and i feel more comfortable running it on unix so wanted to make sure i can still read in from mainframe and the local machine as they like to keep the files there

[Tal]

I was hoping to automate that process so i hope i wont need to move the files manually

[SASKiwi]

You can FTP from SAS. Check with IT admin regarding how you can access the mainframe and its data from Unix.

[Tal]

Thanks. But can i still specify a binary format from within sas?

[Tal]

Ok just checked on sas.com and i can specify it all
Thank you