The OCCURS statement
enables you to complete the following tasks:
-
select individual occurrences or
a range of occurrences
-
drop individual occurrences or
a range of occurrences
-
reset individual occurrences or
a range of occurrences
-
change the format value for one
or more occurrences
-
change the informat value for one
or more occurrences
-
change the
database content value for one or more occurrences
-
rename the SAS
column name for one or more occurrences.
You can see the two-character numeric level of a CA-Datacom/DB field by using one
of the LIST statements. The LVL column displays the word KEY for keys, the number
01 for simple fields and top-level compound
fields, 02 for secondary fields, and so on. This listing is for information only and
cannot be edited.
The column-identifier must be a
repeating field, and can be the CA-Datacom/DB field name or the positional equivalent from the LIST
statement. The occurrence argument
can be the occurrence name or the occurrence number. If the CA-Datacom/DB field
name or the occurrence name contains special characters, like
'-', enclose
the name in quotation marks. The
'='is
optional for all subcommands.
You can use the LISTOCC
statement to review your changes.
You do not have to issue a SELECT statement in a view descriptor for occurrences included
in the CONTENT, FORMAT, INFORMAT, and RENAME subcommands.
The subcommands select the columns.
The OCCURS statement
can take one of the following subcommands:
CONTENT
enables you to change the DB content attribute of an individual occurrence. This
subcommand can be used when creating access or
view descriptors. Changing the DB content attribute of an occurrence has the same effect
on the SAS formats and informats for CA-Datacom/DB tables and records as changing
the DB content attribute of a column.
See CONTENT Statement for more information. For example, if the FIRSTORDERDATE column in the CUSTOMERS
table is a repeating field, and you want to change the DB content attribute for occurrences
nine and ten, submit
the following statement:
occurs firstorderdate content 9 yymmdd6. 10 = yymmdd6.;
DROP
enables you to drop individual occurrences from your descriptor. If you drop all
occurrences of a column, the column is automatically dropped. This subcommand is
used only when defining
access descriptors.
You can drop one or more individual occurrences or a range of occurrences. For example,
if you want to drop occurrences one, two, and three of the BRANCHOFFICE column in
the CUSTOMERS table, submit the following statement:
occurs "BRANCHOFFICE" drop 1 2 3;
or
occurs "BRANCHOFFICE" drop 1 to 3;
FORMAT
enables you to change the format attribute of individual occurrences. This subcommand
can be used when creating access or view descriptors. However, the format attribute
cannot be changed in a view descriptor when you set ASSIGN=YES.
You can change the format attribute of one or more occurrences in one FORMAT subcommand.
For example, if you want to change the format attribute for occurrences nine and ten
of the BRANCHOFFICE column in the CUSTOMER table, submit the following statement:
occurs "BRANCHOFFICE" format 9 $21. 10 = $8.;
INFORMAT
enables you to change the informat attribute of an individual occurrence. This subcommand
can be used when creating access or view descriptors. However, the informat attribute
cannot be changed in a view descriptor when you set ASSIGN=YES.
You can change the informat attribute of one or more occurrences in one INFORMAT
subcommand. For example, if the BRANCHOFFICE column in the CUSTOMERS table is a repeating
field, and you want to change the informat attribute for occurrences nine and ten,
submit
the following statement:
occurs "BRANCHOFFICE" informat 9 $21. 10 = $8.;
RENAME
enables you to rename a SAS column name for an individual occurrence. This subcommand
can be used when creating an
access or view descriptor. However, this subcommand has different effects on access
and view descriptors based on the value specified in the ASSIGN statement.
If you set ASSIGN=NO in the access descriptor, the SAS column name can be renamed.
If you set ASSIGN=YES, the SAS column name can be renamed
in the access descriptor but not in the view descriptor.
You can rename the SAS column name for one or more occurrences in one RENAME subcommand.
For example, if you
want to rename occurrences nine and ten of the BRANCH-OFFICE column in the CUSTOMERS
table, submit the following statement:
occurs "BRANCH-OFFICE" rename 9 london 10 = tokyo;
RESET
enables you to reset the attributes of individual occurrences. This subcommand can
be used when creating an access or view descriptor. Specifying the RESET subcommand
for an occurrence has the same effect on occurrence
attributes as specifying the RESET statement for a column.
See RESET Statement for more
information.
You can reset one or more individual occurrences or a range of occurrences. For example,
if you want to reset occurrences one, two, and three of the BRANCHOFFICE column in
the CUSTOMERS table, submit the following statement:
occurs "BRANCHOFFICE" reset 1 2 3;
or
occurs "BRANCHOFFICE" reset 1 to 3;
SELECT
enables you to select individual occurrences to be included in your descriptor. This
subcommand is used only when defining view descriptors.
You can select one or more individual occurrences or a range of occurrences. For example,
if you want to select occurrences one, two, and three of the BRANCHOFFICE column in
the CUSTOMERS table, submit the following statement:
occurs "BRANCHOFFICE" select 1 2 3;
or
occurs "BRANCHOFFICE" select 1 to 3;
The result of selecting a
key that consists of multiple fields is always a SAS character column. The value of the
SAS column is the concatenated values of the component fields.
If any of the component fields are numeric, they are converted to character representation,
with a format and length set by the
interface view engine. The character-only restriction exists so that the key can be used in a WHERE clause.