The RENAME statement enters or modifies the SAS variable
name that is associated with a DBMS column. The RENAME statement can
be used when creating an access descriptor or a view descriptor.
An editing statement,
such as RENAME, must follow the CREATE statement and the database-description
statements when you create a descriptor.
See CREATE Statement for more information
about the order of statements.
Two factors affect the
use of the RENAME statement: whether you specify the ASSIGN statement
when you are creating an access descriptor, and the type of descriptor
that you are creating.
-
If you omit the ASSIGN statement
or specify it with a
NO value, the renamed
SAS variable names that you specify in the access descriptor are retained
throughout the access descriptor and any view descriptor that is based
on that access descriptor. For example, if you rename the CUSTOMER
column to CUSTNUM when you create an access descriptor, that column
continues to be named CUSTNUM when you select it in a view descriptor
unless a RESET statement or another RENAME statement is specified.
When creating a view
descriptor that is based on this access descriptor, you can specify
the RESET statement or another RENAME statement to rename the variable
again, but the new name applies only in that view. When you create
other view descriptors, the SAS variable names are derived from the
access descriptor.
-
If you specify the
YES value in the ASSIGN statement, you can use the RENAME
statement to change SAS variable names only while creating a specific
access descriptor. As described earlier in the ASSIGN statement,
SAS variable names that are saved in an access descriptor are always
used when creating view descriptors that are based on it.
Renamed SAS variable
names only apply to the current access descriptor that is being created.
The default SAS variable names are used for any subsequent access
descriptors that are created in the same ACCESS procedure execution.
The
column-identifier argument can be either the DBMS column name or the positional equivalent
from the LIST statement, which is the number that represents the column's
place in the descriptor. For example, to rename the SAS variable names
that are associated with the seventh column and the nine-character
FIRSTNAME column in a descriptor, submit the following statement:
rename 7 birthday firstname=fname;
The DBMS column name
(or positional equivalent) is specified on the left side of the expression,
with the SAS variable name on the right side. The equal sign (=)
is optional. If the column name contains special characters or national
characters, enclose the name in quotation marks. You can rename as
many columns as you want in one RENAME statement.
When you are creating
a view descriptor, the RENAME statement automatically selects the
renamed column for the view. That is, if you rename the SAS variable
associated with a DBMS column, you do not have to issue a SELECT statement
for that column.