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

302 DBGEN_NAME= Data Set Option 4 Chapter 11See Also“DBNULL= Data Set Option” on page 310“DBTYPE= Data Set Option” on page 319DBGEN_NAME= Data Set OptionSpecifies how SAS automatically renames columns (when they contain characters that SAS doesnot allow, such as $) to valid SAS variable names.Default value: DBMSValid in: DATA and PROC steps (when accessing DBMS data using SAS/ACCESSsoftware)DBMS 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, Sybase IQ, TeradataSyntaxDBGEN_NAME=DBMS | SASSyntax DescriptionDBMSspecifies that SAS renames DBMS columns to valid SAS variable names. SASconverts any disallowed characters to underscores. If it converts a column to a namethat already exists, it appends a sequence number at the end of the new name.SASspecifies that SAS converts DBMS columns with disallowed characters into valid SASvariable names. SAS uses the format _COLn, where n is the column number,starting with 0. If SAS converts a name to a name that already exists, it appends asequence number at the end of the new name.DetailsSAS retains column names when it reads data from DBMS tables unless a columnname contains characters that SAS does not allow, such as $ or @. SAS allowsalphanumeric characters and the underscore (_).This option is intended primarily for National Language Support, notably convertingkanji to English characters. English characters that are converted from kanji are oftenthose that SAS does not allow. Although this option works for the single-byte characterset (SBCS) version of SAS, SAS ignores it in the double-byte character set (DBCS)version. So if you have the DBCS version, you must first set VALIDVARNAME=ANYbefore using your language characters as column variables.Each of the various SAS/ACCESS interfaces handled name collisions differently inSAS 6. Some interfaces appended at the end of the name, some replaced one or more ofthe final characters in the name, some used a single sequence number, and others usedunique counters. When you specify VALIDVARNAME=V6, SAS handles name collisionsas it did in SAS 6.