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Considerations for Using Informats under CMS

EBCDIC and Character Data

The following character informats produce different results on different computing platforms, depending on which character-encoding system the platform uses. Because CMS uses the EBCDIC character-encoding system, all of the following informats convert data to EBCDIC.

These informats are not discussed in detail in this section because the EBCDIC character-encoding system is their only host-specific aspect.

$ASCIIw.

converts ASCII character data to EBCDIC character data.

$BINARYw.

converts binary values to EBCDIC character data.

$CHARw.

reads character data with blanks.

$CHARZBw.

reads character data and converts any byte that contains a binary zero to a blank.

$EBCDICw.

converts character data to EBCDIC. Under CMS, $EBCDIC and $CHAR are equivalent.

$HEXw.

converts hexadecimal data to EBCDIC character data.

$OCTALw.

converts octal data to EBCDIC character data.

$PHEXw.

converts packed hexadecimal data to EBCDIC character data.

$VARYINGw.

reads character data with blanks.

$w.

reads standard character data.

All the information that you need in order to use these informats under CMS is included in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

Floating-Point Number Format and Portability

The manner in which CMS stores floating-point numbers can affect your data. See Representation of Floating-Point Numbers for details.

Reading Binary Data

If a SAS program that reads binary data is run on only one type of machine, you can use the following native-mode (footnote 1) informats:

IBw.d	reads integer binary (fixed-point) values, including negative values, that are represented in twos complement notation
PDw.d	reads data that are stored in the IBM packed decimal format
PIBw.d	reads positive integer binary (fixed-point) values
RBw.d	reads real binary (floating-point) data.
ZDw.d	Reads zoned decimal data

If you want to write SAS programs that can be run on multiple machines that use different byte-storage systems, then use the following IBM 370 informats:

S370FIB

reads integer binary data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FIBU

reads unsigned integer binary data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FPD

reads packed decimal data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FPDU

reads unsigned packed decimal data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FPIB

reads positive integer binary data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FRB

reads real binary data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FZD

reads zoned decimal data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FZDL

reads zoned decimal leading sign data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FZDS

reads zoned decimal separate leading sign data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FZDT

reads zoned decimal separate trailing sign data in the IBM mainframe format

S370FZDU

reads unsigned zoned decimal data in the IBM mainframe format.

These IBM 370 informats enable you to write SAS programs that can be run in any SAS environment, regardless of the standard for storing numeric data. They also enhance your ability to port raw data between host operating environments.

For more information about the IBM 370 informats, see SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

Date and Time Informats

Several informats are designed to read time and date stamps that have been written by the System Management Facility (SMF), or by the Resource Management Facility (RMF). SMF and RMF are standard features of the CMS operating environment. They record information about each job that is processed. The SAS System under CMS can be used to analyze SMF and RMF data. The following informats are used to read time and date stamps that are generated by SMF and RMF:

PDTIMEw.

reads the packed decimal time of SMF and RMF records.

RMFDUR.

reads the duration values of RMF records.

RMFSTAMPw.

reads the time and date fields of RMF records.

SMFSTAMPw.

reads the time and date of SMF records.

TODSTAMP.

reads the 8-byte time-of-day stamp.

TUw.

reads Timer Unit values.

In order to facilitate the portability of SAS programs, you may use these informats with any operating environment that is supported by the SAS System; therefore, they are documented in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

Column-Binary Informats

Four informats read data from column-binary files:

$CBw.	reads standard character data from column-binary files.
CBw.	reads standard numeric values from column-binary files.
PUNCH.d	reads whether a row of column-binary data is punched.
ROWw.d	reads a column-binary field down a card column.

Data that are stored in column-binary form have usually been read into the SAS System from punch cards. Although column-binary files are not unique to CMS, that method of storing punch card data was used extensively on IBM 370 computer systems, and many files that were originally stored on punch cards are still in use today.

The $CB, CB, PUNCH, and ROW informats are completely portable. They enable SAS programs to read data that are stored in column-binary format regardless of which operating environment your site is running under. The only CMS-specific aspect of these informats is the historical relationship between the Hollerith card-coding system and IBM. See SAS Language Reference: Dictionary for complete information about the column-binary informats.

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