ERROR: MYEXCEL.BLAD2.DATA cannot be deleted because files cannot be deleted from the MYEXCEL library

[rpellicaan]

Hi,

We are migrating from SAS 9.4 M1 on windows to SAS 9.4M6 on AIX. We are running into an issues with excel files. On windows, we were using the EXCEL library engine. There we could delete a sheet within an excel file with PROC DATASETS delete:

LIBNAME MYEXCEL EXCEL &FILEPATH;

PROC DATASETS LIB=MYEXCEL NOLIST;
delete 'Blad2$'n;
run;

LIBNAME MYEXCEL CLEAR;

On AIX the EXCEL engine is not available. We tried switching to the XSLX engine, but then we get the error: 

ERROR: MYEXCEL.BLAD2.DATA cannot be deleted because files cannot be deleted from the MYEXCEL library

How can we delete a sheet within an excel-file with SAS on AIX?

AIX code:

LIBNAME MYEXCEL xlsx &FILEPATH;

PROC DATASETS LIB=MYEXCEL ;
delete 'BLAD2'n;
run;

LIBNAME MYEXCEL CLEAR;

Thank you,

Rob

[Jagadishkatam]

I am not sure if we delete a sheet, we can empty the contents of the sheet.

[dcmacedo]

You have limited support using the xlsx engine. Some features are not available on this engine. "Comparing SAS LIBNAME Engines for PC Files Data".
One option is to keep Excel files on a Windows machine with the "SAS PC File Server".
"SAS PC Files Server"
"SAS 9.4 PC Files Server: Installation and Configuration Guide"