Hi:
Are you writing to an existing partitioned data set (catalog) on the mainframe??? In some instances, for some types of PDS, you might be bound the the LRECL that was defined when the PDS was created. The example from DATA _NULL_ shows that you can write quite a large file. My suggestion would be to try to write to a single, non-catalog, non-PDS file and see whether you run into the same issue. Otherwise, your best resource for this question might be to work with Tech Support. To open a track with Tech Support, go to:
http://support.sas.com/ctx/supportform/createForm
cynthia
PS...the SAS LINESIZE (such as for the output window has a limit of 256, but that is not the same as the limit for the LINESIZE option on the FILE statement.
From the doc:
Default: The default LINESIZE= value is determined by one of two options:
the LINESIZE= system option when you write to a file that contains carriage-control characters or to the SAS log.
the LRECL= option in the FILE statement when you write to a file.
Range: From 64 to the maximum logical record length that is allowed in your operating environment.
Operating Environment Information: The highest value allowed for LINESIZE= is dependent on your operating environment. For details, see the SAS documentation for your operating environment. )