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SAS Filenames

CMS and SAS use different syntax rules to identify a file:

• CMS identifies a SAS file as it does all files, with a three-part name consisting of the filename, a filetype, and either a filemode or an SFS directory identifier, for example, TASTEST MYLIB A1.

• SAS identifies a SAS file by a two-level name--for example, MYLIB.TASTEST. The first part of the name is the libref; it corresponds to the CMS filetype. The second part of the name is the same as the CMS filename. Assuming that the file is on your A disk, the CMS fileid would be TASTEST MYLIB A1.

  SAS filename	CMS filename
  MYLIB.TASTEST	TASTEST MYLIB
  libref.filename	filename filetype

  
  

  The CMS filemode is not included in the two-level SAS name that you specify. However, the filemode can be specified as part of the physical-name parameter in the LIBNAME statement. For details seeLIBNAME.

SAS Filename Restrictions

Under CMS, SAS filenames can contain no more than eight characters. In order for CMS file-naming requirements to accommodate SAS file-naming requirements, the following SAS rules are applied:

SAS File-Naming Rules

Data Member Names		Nondata Member Names
Number of Characters	Type of Filename Used	Number of Characters	Type of Filename Used
<= 8	CMS	<=7	SAS name and a prefix character as CMS filename
>8	generated CMS filename	>7	generated CMS filename

If any generated CMS filenames are needed, a special CMS file is created that is a directory for the library according to the version or release. If this directory is accidentally erased, it will be re-created automatically. The directory file has a CMS filename of :SASDIR and has the same filetype as the library that it is associated with. All generated filenames are prefixed with :SAS and have a four-digit suffix, as in :SAS0001.

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Copyright 1999 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.