SAS fcopy failing to copy .xls file (creates corrupted 1KB file)

[ussas_15]

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to copy an Excel file (.xls) from one folder to another on the same drive using SAS, but I’m running into an issue.

Here’s the code I’m using:

filename in1 "H:\folder1\file1.xls";
filename ou1 "H:\folder2\file1.xls";

data _null_;
  rc = fcopy("in1", "ou1");
  if rc = 0 then put 'Copy successful';
  else put 'Copy failed';
run;

What’s happening:

• On the first run, a file does get created in the destination folder with today’s timestamp, but it’s corrupted and only ~1KB in size (original file is ~13KB).
• I deleted the corrupted file and ran the code again, but this time no file was created at all.
• In both cases, the log shows: “Copy failed”

Has anyone encountered this issue before or knows what might be causing fcopy to fail like this? Are there any additional checks or alternative approaches I should consider? Any troubleshooting ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[ChrisHemedinger]

What version of SAS are you using? I know that FCOPY has improved in later versions to handle more cases. 

But for an immediate solution of your problem, try an alternative approach to perform a binary copy of the file.

https://blogs.sas.com/content/sasdummy/2013/09/17/copy-file-macro/

[Tom]

XLS files are BINARY files. So make sure to tell SAS that.

You can try RECFM=N as suggested by @ChrisHemedinger 's blog post.

filename in1 "H:\folder1\file1.xls" recfm=N;
filename ou1 "H:\folder2\file1.xls" recfm=N;

Or use RECFM=F and LRECL=512.

[Ksharp]

You also could try this code:

%let in1=H:\folder1\file1.xls;
%let ou1=H:\folder2\file1.xls;

data _null_;
rc=rename("&in1","&ou1",'file');
run;

[yabwon]

filename in1 "H:\folder1\file1.xls" lrecl=1 recfm=N;
filename ou1 "H:\folder2\file1.xls" lrecl=1 recfm=N;

data _null_;
  rc = fcopy("in1", "ou1");
  if rc = 0 then put 'Copy successful';
            else put 'Copy failed';
run;