SAS 9.4 Language Reference, 6th Edition

CPORT and CIMPORT procedures

In the source environment, PROC CPORT writes data sets or catalogs to transport

format. In the target environment, PROC CIMPORT translates the transport file into

the target environment's format.

Data transfer services in SAS/CONNECT software

Data transfer services is a bulk data transfer mechanism that transfers a disk copy of

the data and performs the necessary conversion of the data from one environment's

representation to another's, as well as any necessary conversion between SAS

releases. You must establish a connection between the two SAS sessions by using the

SIGNON command and then executing either PROC UPLOAD or PROC

DOWNLOAD to move the data.

Remote library services in both SAS/CONNECT software and SAS/SHARE software

Remote library services gives you transparent access to remote data through the use

of the LIBNAME statement.

Creating Files in a Different Data Representation

By default, when you create a new file, SAS uses the data representation of the CPU that

is running SAS. You can specify the OUTREP= option to override this default.

The OUTREP= option is both a SAS data set option and a LIBNAME statement option.

The data set option applies to an individual file. The LIBNAME statement option applies

to an entire library. This option uses CEDA to create a file that has a different data

representation.

For example, in a UNIX environment, you can create a data set with the data

representation of WINDOWS_32. If you move that data set to a Windows environment

and process the data set with 32-bit SAS for Windows, you do not invoke CEDA.

See “Example 2: Creating a New File in a Different Data Representation” on page 724

and “Example 3: Changing the Data Representation of an Existing File” on page 724.

See the OUTREP= option for the LIBNAME statement in SAS DATA Step Statements:

Reference or see the OUTREP= data set option in SAS Data Set Options: Reference.

Examples of Using CEDA

Example 1: Automatically Processing a File

This example shows how simple it is to process a SAS data set in a different operating

environment without any conversion steps.

The data set was originally created on a UNIX environment and later moved to a

Windows PC with a tool like FTP or operating system commands.

Using CEDA, SAS automatically recognizes the file's UNIX data representation and

translates it to the data representation for the Windows environment. The log output

displays a message that the file is being processed using CEDA.

libname Health 'c:\MyFiles';

proc print data=Health.Oxygen;

Examples of Using CEDA 723

run;

Log 34.2 Log Output from Processing a File from a Different Operating Environment

NOTE: Data file HEALTH.OXYGEN.DATA is in a format that is native to another

host, or the file encoding does not match the session encoding. Cross

Environment Data Access will be used, which might require additional

CPU resources and might reduce performance.

Example 2: Creating a New File in a Different Data Representation

In this example, an administrator who works in a z/OS operating environment wants to

create a SAS file in a UNIX file system directory that can be processed in an AIX UNIX

environment. Specifying OUTREP=RS_6000_AIX_64 as a data set option forces the

data representation to match the data representation of the AIX operating environment

that later processes the file. This method of creating the file can enhance system

performance because the file does not require data conversion later when it is processed

by an AIX computer.

libname MyLib v9 'HFS-file-spec';

data MyLib.a (outrep=RS_6000_AIX_64);

infile file-specifications;

input student $ test1 test2 test3 final;

total = test1+test2+test3+final;

grade = total/4.0;

run;

Example 3: Changing the Data Representation of an Existing File

To change an existing file's data representation, you can use PROC COPY with the

NOCLONE option and specify OUTREP= in the LIBNAME statement. The following

example copies a source library of Windows data sets to a target library of Solaris data

sets. Note that if you move a data set to another platform (for example, with FTP), you

must move it as a binary file.

libname Target 'target-pathname' outrep=solaris_x86_64;

libname Source 'source-pathname';

proc copy in=Source out=Target noclone memtype=data;

run;

For more information, see the OUTREP= option for the LIBNAME statement in SAS

DATA Step Statements: Reference or see the OUTREP= data set option in SAS Data Set

Options: Reference.

724 Chapter 34 • Processing Data Using Cross-Environment Data Access (CEDA)