Generating In= and out-= are same error in the log while they are not. ANY SOLUTIONS OR REASONS?

[Nipun22]

program -

libname cv '/home/u60697506/sasuser.v94/Permanants Libs';
libname vc '/home/u60697506/sasuser.v94/Permanants Libs';

data cv.a;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data cv.b;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data cv.c;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data cv.d;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data cv.e;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data vc.a;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data vc.b;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data vc.c;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data vc.d;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


data vc.e;
set sashelp.cars;
run;


proc datasets lib=cv;
delete a b c d e;
run;

proc datasets;
copy in=vc out=cv;
select a b c d e ;
run;

 LOG 
 1          OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
 68         
 69         
 70         proc datasets;
 71         copy in=vc out=cv;
 72         select a b c d e ;
 73         run;
 
 WARNING: IN= and OUT= are the same. Files will not be copied into themselves.
 74         
 75         
 76         OPTIONS NONOTES NOSTIMER NOSOURCE NOSYNTAXCHECK;
 86         

[ballardw]

Where is the LOG entry for the first proc datasets that you show?

2 library definitions that are the same physical locations are going to cause confusion in general. There can be only one physical file named a.sas7bdat in the location. That is what the in= and out= being the same means with your shown code. So there is no reason to do anything as the result would be the same.

[Nipun22]

you mean folder should also be different though libraries are different already?

[ballardw]

I did not see any difference in the library locations:

libname cv '/home/u60697506/sasuser.v94/Permanants Libs';
libname vc '/home/u60697506/sasuser.v94/Permanants Libs';

Consider this log where I assign two libraries to the same location:

516  libname junk "X:\";
NOTE: Libref JUNK was successfully assigned as follows:
      Engine:        V9
      Physical Name: X:\
517
518  data junk.a;
519     set sashelp.class;
520  run;

NOTE: There were 19 observations read from the data set SASHELP.CLASS.
NOTE: The data set JUNK.A has 19 observations and 5 variables.
NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time):
      real time           0.01 seconds
      cpu time            0.00 seconds


521
522  libname junk2 "X:\";
NOTE: Libref JUNK2 refers to the same physical library as JUNK.
NOTE: Libref JUNK2 was successfully assigned as follows:
      Engine:        V9
      Physical Name: X:\
523

Beside the note that Junk2 refers to the SAME PHYSICAL LIBRARY

when I run, which describes the contents of all the data sets in library Junk2

524  proc contents data=junk2._all_;
NOTE: Writing HTML Body file: sashtml1.htm
525  run;

I get the following result which shows data set A in Junk2.

The CONTENTS Procedure

Directory
Libref	JUNK2
Engine	V9
Physical Name	X:\
Filename	X:\
Owner Name	DHW\ballarde
File Size	8KB
File Size (bytes)	8192

#	Name	Member Type	Obs, Entries or Indexes	Vars	Label	File Size	Last Modified
1	A	DATA	19	5		128KB	08/26/2024 09:41:36

The CONTENTS Procedure

Data Set Name	JUNK2.A	Observations	19
Member Type	DATA	Variables	5
Engine	V9	Indexes	0
Created	08/26/2024 09:41:36	Observation Length	40
Last Modified	08/26/2024 09:41:36	Deleted Observations	0
Protection		Compressed	NO
Data Set Type		Sorted	NO
Label
Data Representation	WINDOWS_64
Encoding	wlatin1 Western (Windows)

Engine/Host Dependent Information
Data Set Page Size	65536
Number of Data Set Pages	1
First Data Page	1
Max Obs per Page	1632
Obs in First Data Page	19
Number of Data Set Repairs	0
ExtendObsCounter	YES
Filename	X:\a.sas7bdat
Release Created	9.0401M7
Host Created	X64_10PRO
Owner Name	DHW\ballarde
File Size	128KB
File Size (bytes)	131072

Alphabetic List of Variables and Attributes
#	Variable	Type	Len
3	Age	Num	8
4	Height	Num	8
1	Name	Char	8
2	Sex	Char	1
5	Weight	Num	8

There are a few reasons to have multiple references to the same Library but for relative beginners it is more likely to cause confusion than to simplify a project.

A single library can point to multiple physical storage locations (folders, drives). Those locations may also be other libraries.

Example

libname newlib (junk junk2);

and the log shows

527  libname newlib (junk junk2);
NOTE: Libref NEWLIB was successfully assigned as follows:
      Levels:           2
      Engine(1):        V9
      Physical Name(1): X:\
      Engine(2):        V9
      Physical Name(2): X:\

Which means that I now have 3 different libraries all pointing to the same location: x:\

Which I will clear now as I don't need them after demonstrating this behavior.

[Nipun22]

Thanks for the explanation!

[Reeza]

---

@Nipun22 wrote:
you mean folder should also be different though libraries are different already?

---

Libraries are shortcut references to physical locations. Both libraries are referring to the same physical location so they are the same. 

You can actually use a path in place of libraries in most code but it's much easier to use libname references.

So yes, use different folders 🙂

[Nipun22]

Yeah I just changed the physical location location of the two libraries to the new subfolders and works like a charm!

[Quentin]

---

@Nipun22 wrote:
you mean folder should also be different though libraries are different already?

---

Yes, if you think in terms of the files, your current code is trying to copy the file

/home/u60697506/sasuser.v94/Permanants Libs/a.sas7bdat

to:

/home/u60697506/sasuser.v94/Permanants Libs/a.sas7bdat

and SAS is recognizing that you're trying to copy a file to the same place the file is already located, which doesn't make sense.