Converts a dBASE file to a SAS data set or a SAS data set to a
dBASE file
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DB2|DB3|DB4|DB5=fileref
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is the logical name to be associated
with the external file or device type specified. The fileref can be a maximum
of eight characters. The first character must be a letter (A through Z),
or an underscore (_). The remaining characters can be any of these characters
or numerals (0 through 9).
The DBn option must correspond to the version
of dBASE with which the DBF file is compatible. Specify a DBF file with the
DBn option, where n is 2, 3, 4, or 5. You can only
specify one of these values.
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DATA=<libref.>member
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names the input SAS data set, using
1-32 characters. Use this option if you are creating a DBF file from
a SAS data set. If you use the DATA= option, do not use the OUT= option. If
you omit the DATA= option, SAS creates an output SAS data set from the DBF
file.
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OUT=<libref.>member
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names the SAS data set that is created
to hold the converted data, using 1-32 characters. Use this option only
if you do not specify the DATA= option. If OUT= is omitted, SAS creates a
temporary data set in the WORK library. The name of the temporary data set
is DATA1 [...DATAn]. If OUT= is omitted or if you do not specify
a two-level name in the OUT= option, the SAS data set that is created by PROC
DBF remains available during your current SAS session (under the temporary
data set name), but it is not permanently saved.
You can use PROC DBF in the CMS environment
if your site has a license for SAS/ACCESS for PC File Formats. To see a list
of your licenses, submit the following statements:
proc setinit; run;
If you are licensed you will see an entry in your SAS
log for SAS/ACCESS for PC File Formats.
The DBF procedure converts files in DBF format to SAS
data sets that are compatible with the current SAS release. You can also
use PROC DBF to convert SAS data sets to files in DBF format.
Before you convert a DBF file to a SAS file, you must
first upload your DBF file from the Windows, OS/2, NT, or UNIX environment
to the CMS environment, using a mechanism such as FTP (file transfer protocol).
If you are licensed for SAS/CONNECT, you can use PROC UPLOAD:
filename out1 'sasdemo.emp.dbf';
proc upload infile='c:\employee\emp.dbf'
outfile=out1 binary;
run;
PROC DBF produces one output file but no printed output.
The output file contains the same information as the input file but in a different
format.
The DBF procedure works with DBF files created by all
the current versions and releases of dBASE (II, III, III PLUS, IV, and 5.0)
and with most DBF files that are created by other software products.
When you convert a DBF file a to SAS data
set, DBF numeric variables become SAS numeric variables. Similarly, DBF character
variables become SAS character variables. Any DBF character variable of length
greater than 200 is truncated to 200 in SAS. Logical fields become SAS character
variables with a length of 1. Date fields become SAS date variables.
DBF fields whose data are stored in auxiliary files
(Memo, General, binary, and OLE data types) are ignored in SAS.
If a DBF file has missing numeric or date fields, SAS
fills those missing fields with a series of the digit '9' or with blanks,
respectively.
When a dBASE II file is translated into a SAS data set,
any colons in dBASE variable names are changed to underscores in SAS variable
names. Conversely, when a SAS data set is translated into a dBASE file, any
underscores in SAS variable names are changed to colons in dBASE field names.
In this example, a dBASE IV file named
SASDEMO.EMPLOYEE is converted to a SAS data set. A FILENAME statement specifies
a fileref that names the dBASE IV file. The FILENAME statement must appear
before the PROC DBF statement.
libname save 'sasdemo.employee.data';
filename dbfin 'sasdemo.employee dbf a';
proc dbf db4=dbfin out=save.employee;
run;
In this example, a SAS data set is converted
to a dBASE 5 file.
libname demo 'sasdemo.employee.data';
filename dbfout 'newemp dbf a' recfm=n;
proc dbf db5=dbfout data=demo.employee;
run;
In DBF files, numeric variables are stored
in character form. When converting from a SAS data set to a DBF file, SAS
numeric variables become DBF numeric variables with a total length of 16.
A SAS numeric variable with a decimal value must be stored in a decimal format
in order to be converted to a DBF numeric field with a decimal value. In
other words, unless you associate the SAS numeric variable with an appropriate
format in a SAS FORMAT statement, the corresponding DBF field will not have
any value to the right of the decimal point. You can associate a format with
the variable in a SAS data set when you create the data set or by using the
DATASETS procedure (see DATASETS).
If the number of digits-including a possible
decimal
point-exceeds 16, a warning message is issued and the DBF numeric field
is filled with a series of the digit '9'. All SAS character variables become
DBF fields of the same length. When converting from a SAS data set to a DBF
file that is compatible with dBASE III or later, SAS date variables become
DBF date fields. When converting to a dBASE II file, SAS date variables become
dBASE II character fields in the form YYYYMMDD.
You might find it helpful to save another
software vendor's file to a DBF file and then convert that file into a SAS
data set. For example, you could save an Excel XLS file in DBF format, upload
the file, and use PROC DBF to convert that file into a SAS data set. Or you
could do the reverse; use PROC DBF to convert a SAS data set into a DBF file
and then load that file into an Excel spreadsheet.
Copyright © 1999 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.
