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FILEDISP=

Default:	OLD
Engines:	V8TAPE, V7TAPE, V6TAPE
Valid as:	data set option
CMS specifics:	all

NEW

specifies that the sequential data library is to be considered empty. SAS therefore does not look for previously written members. The data step writes the new member at the beginning of the new (empty) library. Any members that existed in the library prior to the write are lost. The FILEDISP=NEW option can be valid only during the first write to a sequential data library for a given libref. For all subsequent writes to that libref, FILEDISP=NEW is ignored and FILEDISP=OLD is assumed.

OLD

specifies that the sequential data library is not initially empty. SAS therefore writes members with names that do not already exist in the library at the end of the library. If the member being written has a name that already exists in the library, the existing member is overwritten and any members that follow the overwritten member are lost.

Details

A sequential data library is a single SAS file that can contain one or more concatenated members.

To avoid inadvertent data loss, make sure that you specify FILEDISP=NEW only when writing to new (empty) sequential data libraries. Also, when writing to an existing sequential data library, make sure that the name of the member being written does not inadvertently correspond to the name of a member that already exists in the library.

See Also

• Assigning a Libref to a Sequential Library .

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