External text files are files that you have stored
outside of SAS.
They can be created in several different ways. Four common methods are as
follows:
- save the contents of the OUTPUT or LOG window
to an external file with the FILE command
- direct the output from SAS procedures to an external
file using the PRINTTO procedure and a FILENAME statement
- direct the output from a SAS data step to an external
file using the FILE and PUT statements
- create a text file from another software application
such as a text editor or a spreadsheet program.
Note: Depending on the operating environment
and the method used to generate the file, external text files may contain
carriage-control characters. For more information on carriage-control characters,
see the NOCC option. ![[cautionend]](../common/images/cautend.gif)
You can use a FILENAME statement or host command to specify
a fileref that points to the location of the external text file that you want
to print. This external file serves as the input file for the GPRINT procedure.
Copyright 1999 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.
