Question

I come from a SQL Server background and am new to working with SAS. To automatically import flat files into SQL Server, I would have used a SQL Server Integration Services package and scheduled a job through Management Studio to pick up and import the file.

How do I do the same thing in SAS. The research I’ve done shows that there is a scheduling plugin for SAS Management Console, but how do I create a job that does the import? Do I do that in Enterprise Guide?

Answer 1

The job that does the import would presumably be a short SAS program that reads the file in. You would indeed manage that in EG, if that’s what you’re using to manage the general process flow (for servers I imagine it would be). You can either use an import wizard, write a PROC IMPORT statement, like:

proc import file="whatever.csv" out=dsetname dbms=csv replace;
run;

if it is a CSV, or write a data step if it’s not a delimited file (or, even if it is):

data dsetname;
infile "whatever.txt";
input
@1 varname $8.
@10 varname2 $5.
@16 varname3 4.
;
run;

The latter is the most flexible, but does require knowing the data completely; a PROC IMPORT can read the header row from a delimited file and make reasonable guesses as to the width of fields.