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Referencing External Files Indirectly

If you want to reference a file in only one place in a program so that you can easily change it for another job or a later run, you can reference a filename indirectly. Use a FILENAME statement, the FILENAME function, or an appropriate operating system command to assign a fileref or nickname, to a file.(footnote 1) Note that you can assign a fileref to a SAS catalog that is an external file, or to an output device, as shown in the following table.

Referencing External Files Indirectly
External File Task Tool Example
Assign a fileref to a file that contains input data. FILENAME
filename mydata 'input-file';
Assign a fileref to a file for output data. FILENAME
filename myreport 'output-file';
Assign a fileref to a file that contains program statements. FILENAME
filename mypgm 'source-file';
Assign a fileref to an output device. FILENAME
filename myprinter <device-type> <host-options>;
Specify the file that contains input data. INFILE
data weight;
   infile mydata;
   input idno $ week1 week16;
   loss=week1-week16;
Specify the file that the PUT statement writes to. FILE
   file myreport;
      if loss ge 5 and loss le 9 then
         put idno loss 'AWARD STATUS=3';
      else if loss ge 10 and loss le 14 then
         put idno loss 'AWARD STATUS=2';
      else if loss ge 15 then
         put idno loss 'AWARD STATUS=1';
   run; 
Bring statements or raw data from another file into your SAS job and execute them. %INCLUDE %include mypgm;


FOOTNOTE 1:  In some operating environments, you can also use the command '&' to assign a fileref. [arrow]


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