Hi,
I think it would be beneficial to have Generation Data group like dataset in SAS similar to the format used in Mainframe.
- Generation Data Groups (GDGs) are group of datasets related to each other by a common name.
- The common name is referred as GDG base and each dataset associated with the base is called a GDG version.
- You can set the limit of the related files(generations).
- We can easily keep track of all generation of data sets.
- Any particular generation can be referred easily.
We use lot of datasets which regenerates daily , monthly , yearly etc..
Consider I need to create daily transaction data for the month of May.
If Generation Data Group is available, I would define the base like "Tran_May2024".
Then I would just create dataset daily in the below way.
Data Tran_May2024(+1); -- This will create the next available version.
set work_tran_table;
run;
If need to point current or earlier version i would use the dataset below.
Tran_May2024(0) - Latest Version
Tran_May2024(-1) - Previous Version
Tran_May2024(-2) - 2 versions back
If I need the whole month data , i just refer the base
Data work_tran_may;
set Tran_May2024; --This would all the version available in the base
run;
you can have options like below
LIMIT – To limit the maximum number of generations.
NOEMPTY – Uncatalog only the oldest generation in GDG when the limit is reached.
EMPTY – Uncatalog all the generations when a limit is reached.
SCRATCH -Physically delete the dataset(generation) which is uncataloged.
NOSCRATCH – Don’t Physically delete the dataset(generation) which is uncataloged.
This would help a lot when we create lot of datasets which are created in a repeatable fashion.
Thank
Ravi
