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larsonnic
Calcite | Level 5

I am working through the 2nd practice question in the Programming Essentials class and continue to get errors when running the code.

 

The task is:

  • Write a PROC CONTENTS step to generate a report of the storm_summary.sas7bdat table.
    • SAS Studio: Specify the path to your EPG1V2/data folder and the full name of the table

I am working in SAS Studio, so my code is:

proc contents data="/home/u497000996/EPG1V2/data/storm_summary.sas7bdat";
run;

 

However, when I run the code I get the error:

1 OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable _SASWSTEMP_ resolves to /home/u49700996/.sasstudio/.images/9c2f11a4-e2fc-4d68-b371-f66d6148b2af
SYMBOLGEN: Some characters in the above value which were subject to macro quoting have been unquoted for printing.
SYMBOLGEN: Macro variable GRAPHINIT resolves to GOPTIONS RESET=ALL GSFNAME=_GSFNAME;
72
73 proc contents data="/home/u497000996/EPG1V2/data/storm_summary.sas7bdat";
ERROR: Create of library failed.
74 run;
 
I am able to pull up the data when I click on the file itself, so I know that it is there, but the code isn't working.
 
Any insight would be much appreciated!
4 REPLIES 4
jimbarbour
Meteorite | Level 14

@larsonnic,

 

I haven't taken that class, and I'm using Enterprise Guide at the moment, not Studio, but I would normally create a Libname rather than trying to go straight to the sas7bdat file.

 

Something like the following:

 

Libname  PrgEssnt  "/home/u497000996/EPG1V2/data";
proc contents data=PrgEssnt.storm_summary;
run;

For the Libname, I just use the path.  For the Data= parameter of Proc Contents, I use a two part data set name consisting of Libname.Datasetname.  Notice that nowhere do I actually code ".sas7bdat".  The extension is assumed.  

 

 

Why don't you give that a shot and see how it goes?  

 

Jim

 

 

andreas_lds
Jade | Level 19

Lately i have seen many programs using direct path to datasets instead of library+dataset. Using the path in every place is such a bad idea, that i wonder why this is even part of official tutorials. @Sas: Please stop this madness, as it reduces readability and increase the efforts necessary to maintain the code.

ckazarov
Calcite | Level 5

How did you end up resolving this? I am having the same exact issue.

Kurt_Bremser
Super User

Same solution: define a libname and use that.

Right-click on the file in the navigation pane and copy/paste the path from the properties. Maintain the spelling, as UNIX is case sensitive.

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