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SAS Companion for the CMS Environment

Accessing BMDP Files

The BMDP engine is a read-only engine that enables you to access BMDP files as if they were SAS data files.

This engine can read only BMDP save files that were created in the same operating environment. For example, BMDP files that are created in an OpenVMS operating environment cannot be read with the BMDP engine under CMS.

Assigning a Libref to a BMDP File

To assign a libref to a BMDP file so that you can access the file, use this form of the LIBNAME statement:

LIBNAME libref BMDP physical-name;

This form of the LIBNAME statement takes the following arguments:

libref: is a SAS libref.
BMDP: specifies the BMDP engine.
physical-name: specifies the physical location of the library.

The LIBNAME statement has no options for the BMDP engine.

You do not need to use a LIBNAME statement before running PROC CONVERT on a BMDP file.

Referencing BMDP Files

Because there can be multiple save files in a single physical BMDP file, you use the value of the BMDP CODE= argument as the name of the SAS data file. For example, if the BMDP save file contains CODE=ABC and CODE=DEF, and the libref is XXX, you reference the files as XXX.ABC and XXX.DEF. All BMDP CONTENT types are treated the same, so if file DEF has CONTENT=CORR under BMDP, it is still treated by the SAS System as CONTENT=DATA.

If in your SAS program you want to access the first BMDP save file, or if there is only one save file, you can refer to the file as _FIRST_. This approach is convenient if you do not know the BMDP CODE= name.

Examples of Accessing BMDP Files

Suppose the physical file TEMP BMDPDATA contains the save file ABC. The following statements assign a libref to the physical file, then run PROC CONTENTS and PROC PRINT on the file:
```
libname xxx bmdp 'temp bmdpdata';
proc contents data=xxx.abc;
proc print data=xxx.abc;
```
The following example uses the LIBNAME statement to associate the libref MYLIB2 with the BMDP physical file. Then it prints the data for the first save file in the physical file.
```
libname mylib2 bmdp 'temp bmdpdata';
proc print data=mylib2._first_;
```

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