Methods of Exporting Data to ASCII or EBCDIC - sasCommunity.org

Methods of Exporting Data to ASCII or EBCDIC
Andrew Wilcox
Amadeus Software Ltd
Abstract
The SASâ System offers the programmer a multitude of ways enabling the
exportation of data from a SAS dataset into ASCII / EBCDIC text. This paper
discusses some of the possible export options which are available across the
broad spectrum of SAS versions.
Introduction
Eight methods of data exportation are discussed in this paper, Dynamic Data
Exchange or DDE, the Export Wizard, the SAS Datastep, a custom written export
macro, using Proc Printto, cut & paste, SAS/ACCESSâ software, and a frame
application which uses object linking and embedding technology.
These methods should provide all users, across all platforms at least two
solutions to their exporting problems.
No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
Exporting Data
1) Dynamic Data Exchange
DDE is currently only available on Microsoft Windows 3.1, 95, NT and for the
SAS System version 6.08 or above. To enable exportation of data using DDE the
SAS System and the target application must support DDE transmission and both
be active. In this example, information will be passed from a SAS dataset into
Microsoft Excel 97.
The program below will export all the variables held on the DEMOG SAS dataset
into Excel at the following positions: Sheet1, Rows1-Rows16 and Columns1-
Columns16.
Notice that the column names have not been exported.
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purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
2) Export Wizard
With the SAS System release version 6.12 an interactive method of exporting
data was introduced.
Select Export from the File pull down menu :
Enter the name of the Data Set that you wish to Export :
Click on
Select the file format that you require :
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No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
Click on
Enter the path and name of the file in which the exported data is to be stored :
Click on
The data has been successfully exported to Excel :
Note:- SAS/ACCESS to PC File formats is required for the export wizard to
create a file in an excel format, otherwise a tab or comma delimited file can be
created.
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No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
3) DATA STEP
The datastep offers all users of the SAS System a method of exporting
information from the SAS System into an external file. However, when exporting
data from the SAS System you may encounter a problem of embedded blanks
within the variables in the SAS dataset. To help the target application import the
data successfully a CSV (Comma Separated Values) format style could be
selected.
Unfortunately this method for exporting data will only export the ‘data’
portion of the SAS dataset, hence the column headings will not be passed
forward to the target application.
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No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
4) Export Macro
This tip enables SAS users on all platform and SAS versions who do not have the export
wizard to export SAS files as ASCII delimited text:
General Syntax:
%send(dataset,delimeter,path,length)
Example:
%send(info.demog , ’ , ’,’c:\report.csv’,450)
This will create a CSV file from the INFO.DEMOG SAS dataset allowing a maximum
length of 450 characters.
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No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
Resulting in:
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purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
5) Using Proc Printto
The Printto procedure allows the user to redirect either the LOG or the OUTPUT
window to an external ASCII file. This procedure is particularly useful due to its
simplicity and the fact that it’s available on all platforms and releases of the SAS
System.
Example
Redirect the output window to an external ASCII file.
The output file contains the following.
etc...
Proc Printto Example
OBS GENDER STATUS
1 M S
2 F M
3 M D
4
5
M
F
M
P
6 M S
7 F M
8 F M
9
10
F
F
M
M
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purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
6) Cut and Paste
The ability of cutting and pasting from the output window is only available with
Microsoft Windows or OS/2 and release 6.06 of the SAS System or above.
Simply highlight the required output, select copy then select paste in the target
application.
Now paste the table.
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No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
7) Using SAS/ACCESS
The SAS/ACCESS product offers users interactive and non-interactive methods
of exporting data into a variety of formats and not just ASCII text. This paper will
demonstrate the batch approach to SAS/ACCESS, by exporting a SAS dataset to
an Excel file.
View the new Excel file.
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No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
8) Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)
SAS/AFâ Software enables users to communicate with other Windows products
as long as they are OLE2 compliant applications. This means that information
can be sent from the SAS system into a specific Cell of a spreadsheet, also this
cell may be pre-formatted thereby enabling some dramatic display
enhancements.
Example
On pressing the Export button, OLE now transmits the table from SAS into a
pre-formatted Excel spreadsheet.
Summary
The SAS System provides the programmer with tools to help the exportation of
data. These tools can be GUI driven like the export wizard or macro driven.
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No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methods of Exporting Data
Contact Information
Andrew Wilcox
Amadeus Software Ltd
13 Corn Street
Witney
OX8 7DB
England
Telephone +44 (0) 1993 775454
Fax +44 (0) 1993 700577
E-mail enquiries@amadeus.co.uk
Web Page www.amadeus.co.uk
Copyright Notice
No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written
permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. ã Amadeus Software. April 1998. All rights
reserved.
Trademark Notice
SAS/ACCESS, SAS/AF are registered trademarks of SAS Institute, Cary, NC,
USA.
Microsoft Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft, California, USA.
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No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of Amadeus Software Ltd. Ó Amadeus Software Ltd. All rights reserved.