SAS/ACCESS Software for PC File Formats: Reference

IMPORT and EXPORT Procedures

As in the Import/Export facility, the IMPORT and EXPORT procedures transfer data between SAS and external data sources. These external data sources can include DBMS tables, PC files, spreadsheets, and delimited external files, which are files containing columns of data values that are separated by a delimiter such as a blank or a comma.

IMPORT Procedure

The syntax for the IMPORT procedure is shown here briefly but is described in detail in theSAS Procedures Guide.

PROC IMPORT
DATAFILE=<"filename" | TABLE="tablename">
OUT=<libref.> SAS-data-set
<DBMS=identifier> <REPLACE>;
<data-source-statements;>

After you invoke the IMPORT procedure, it reads the input file and writes the data to a SAS data set, where the names of the SAS variables are based on the column names of the input data. PROC IMPORT imports the data by one of the following methods:

generated DATA step code
generated SAS/ACCESS code
translation engines.

You control the results with options and statements that are specific to your input data source. PROC IMPORT produces the specified output SAS data set and writes information about the import to the SAS log. In the log, you see the DATA step or the SAS/ACCESS code that is generated by PROC IMPORT. If a translation engine is used, then the code is not submitted.

Example: Importing a Microsoft Access File

This example imports a Microsoft Access table called CUSTOMERS and from it creates a permanent SAS data set named SASUSER.CUST. The MS Access table has user-level security and, therefore, you need to specify the following statements: PWD=, UID=, and WGDB=. This example is repeated from the SAS Procedures Guide; see it for the following example's output and SAS log.

proc import table="customers" out=sasuser.cust dbms=access;
            uid="thomas";
            pwd="rocket";
            database="c:\hrdiv\east.mdb";
            wgdb="c:\winnt\system32\security.mdb";
proc print data=sasuser.cust;
run;

EXPORT Procedure

The syntax for the EXPORT procedure is shown here briefly but is described in detail in the SAS Procedures Guide.

PROC EXPORT
DATA=<libref.>SAS-data-set
OUT="filename" | OUTTABLE="tablename"
<DBMS=identifier> <REPLACE>;

The EXPORT procedure reads data from a SAS data set and exports it to an external data source by using one of the following methods:

generated DATA step code
generated SAS/ACCESS code
translation engines.

PROC EXPORT also controls the results with options and statements that are specific to the output data source.

Example: Exporting a Delimited File under UNIX

The following example exports a SAS data set named MYFILE.CLASS and creates a delimited external file called CLASS. Notice that the DELIMITER= statement specifies the ampersand (&) delimiter to separate the column names in the new file. This example is repeated from the SAS Procedures Guide; see it for the following example's SAS log.

proc export data=myfiles.class
     outfile="/myfiles/class";
     dbms=dlm;
     delimiter='&';
run;

PROC EXPORT produces an external file as follows (showing the first five rows):

NAMES&SEX&AGE&HEIGHT&WEIGHT
Alice&F&13&56.5&84
Becka&F&13&65.3&98
Gail&F&14&64.3&90
Karen&F&12&56.3&77
Kathy&F&12&59.8&84.5

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