SAS Companion for the CMS Environment

Specifying CMS File Identifiers

Under CMS, a file identifier (or fileid) consists of three parts: a filename, a filetype, and either a filemode, a directory identifier, or an aggregate external file specification. These terms are defined as follows:

filename

consists of one to eight alphanumeric characters, including the letters A through Z, the digits 0 through 9, and the following special characters: $ # @ + - (hyphen) : (colon) _ (underscore). The filename identifies the file for the user.

filetype

describes or qualifies the filename. The filetype pertains to files that reside either in a CMS minidisk or in an accessed Shared File System (SFS) directory to which a filemode letter has been assigned.

The syntax of the filetype consists of one to eight alphanumeric characters, including the letters A through Z, the digits 0 through 9, and the following special characters: $ # @ + - (hyphen) : (colon) _ (underscore).

CMS reserves certain filetypes for particular purposes. For example, a filetype of EXEC indicates that the file can contain a program of CMS commands. See the VM/ESA CMS User's Guide for information about reserved filetypes.

It is not always necessary to include the filetype in a CMS fileid, because some CMS commands and SAS language elements (such as statements, system options, and the SAS command) assume certain filetypes by default.

filemode

is a two-character field that consists of the filemode letter (A through Z), optionally followed by the filemode number (0 through 6). See the VM/ESA CMS User's Guide for definitions of particular filemodes. The filemode letter can refer either to a CMS minidisk or to an accessed SFS directory.

If you do not specify a filemode, then CMS searches in alphabetic order the filemodes that you have assigned.

directory identifier

pertains only to an SFS directory. To identify a directory identifier to SAS (in a FILENAME statement, for example), use a file pool identifier, the root directory (usually your userid), and (possibly) one or more subdirectory names. The file pool identifier must be followed by a colon. See the VM/ESA CMS User's Guide for complete information about directory identifiers.

aggregate external file

any minidisk, MACLIB, or SFS directory can be identified to SAS as an aggregate file. A minidisk or SFS directory is identified to SAS with a filemode letter, the SFS directory name, or an asterisk, and without a filename or filetype. A MACLIB is identified to SAS with the syntax 'filename MACLIB <filemode | *>'. For further information about aggregate files, see Identifying an External File.

Examples of CMS File Identifiers

FILENAME statement that assigns a fileref to a file that resides in a minidisk or SFS directory to which a filemode letter has been assigned:
```
filename mysas1 'myprog sas a1';
```
FILENAME statement that assigns a fileref to a file that resides in an SFS directory:
```
filename mysas1 'myprog sas pool1:mydir.mysubdir'
```
FILENAME statement that assigns a fileref to an aggregate file that consists of an SFS directory:
```
filename mysas1 'pool1:mydir.';
```
FILENAME statement that assigns a fileref to an aggregate file that consists of a MACLIB:
```
filename mysas1 'myprog MACLIB *';
```
FILENAME statement that assigns a fileref to an aggregate file that consists of a CMS minidisk:
```
filename mysas1 'a';
```

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