Hi, I think it would be beneficial to have Generation Data group like dataset in SAS similar to the format used in Mainframe. Generation Data Groups (GDGs) are group of datasets related to each other by a common name. The common name is referred as GDG base and each dataset associated with the base is called a GDG version. You can set the limit of the related files(generations). We can easily keep track of all generation of data sets. Any particular generation can be referred easily. We use lot of datasets which regenerates daily , monthly , yearly etc.. Consider I need to create daily transaction data for the month of May. If Generation Data Group is available, I would define the base like "Tran_May2024". Then I would just create dataset daily in the below way. Data Tran_May2024(+1); -- This will create the next available version. set work_tran_table; run; If need to point current or earlier version i would use the dataset below. Tran_May2024(0) - Latest Version Tran_May2024(-1) - Previous Version Tran_May2024(-2) - 2 versions back If I need the whole month data , i just refer the base Data work_tran_may; set Tran_May2024; --This would all the version available in the base run; you can have options like below LIMIT – To limit the maximum number of generations. NOEMPTY – Uncatalog only the oldest generation in GDG when the limit is reached. EMPTY – Uncatalog all the generations when a limit is reached. SCRATCH -Physically delete the dataset(generation) which is uncataloged. NOSCRATCH – Don’t Physically delete the dataset(generation) which is uncataloged. This would help a lot when we create lot of datasets which are created in a repeatable fashion. Thank Ravi
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