SAS/ACCESS 9.2 for Relational Databases: Reference, Fourth Edition

The LIBNAME Statement for Relational Databases 4 PRESERVE_COL_NAMES= LIBNAME Option 167DBMS support: Aster nCluster, DB2 under UNIX and PC Hosts, DB2 under z/OS,Greenplum, HP Neoview, Informix, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Netezza, ODBC,OLE DB, Oracle, Sybase IQ, TeradataSyntaxPRESERVE_COL_NAMES=YES | NOSyntax DescriptionNOspecifies that column names that are used to create DBMS tables are derived fromSAS variable names (VALIDVARNAME= system option) by using the SAS variablename normalization rules. However, the database applies its DBMS-specificnormalization rules to the SAS variable names when creating the DBMS columnnames.The use of N-Literals to create column names that use database keywords orspecial symbols other than the underscore character might be illegal when DBMSnormalization rules are applied. To include nonstandard SAS symbols or databasekeywords, specify PRESERVE_COL_NAMES=YES.NO is the default for most DBMS interfaces.YESspecifies that column names that are used in table creation are passed to the DBMSwith special characters and the exact, case-sensitive spelling of the name preserved.DetailsThis option applies only when you use SAS/ACCESS to create a new DBMS table. Whenyou create a table, you assign the column names by using one of the following methods:3 To control the case of the DBMS column names, specify variables using the casethat you want and set PRESERVE_COL_NAMES=YES. If you use special symbolsor blanks, you must set VALIDVARNAME= to ANY and use N-Literals. For moreinformation, see the SAS/ACCESS naming topic in the DBMS-specific referencesection for your interface in this document and also the system options section inSAS Language Reference: Dictionary.3 To enable the DBMS to normalize the column names according to its namingconventions, specify variables using any case and setPRESERVE_COLUMN_NAMES= NO.When you use SAS/ACCESS to read from, insert rows into, or modify data in anexisting DBMS table, SAS identifies the database column names by their spelling.Therefore, when the database column exists, the case of the variable does not matter.To save some time when coding, specify the PRESERVE_NAMES= alias if you planto specify both the PRESERVE_COL_NAMES= and PRESERVE_TAB_NAMES= optionsin your LIBNAME statement.To use column names in your SAS program that are not valid SAS names, you mustuse one of the following techniques:3 Use the DQUOTE= option in PROC SQL and then reference your columns usingdouble quotation marks. For example:proc sql dquote=ansi;select "Total$Cost" from mydblib.mytable;