Overview of the Pass-Through Facility for PC Files on Microsoft Windows

The SQL procedure implements the Structured Query Language (SQL) for SAS. See the SQL procedure topic in Base SAS Procedures Guide for information about PROC SQL. You can send data source-specific SQL statements directly to a data source using an extension to the SQL procedure called the Pass-Through Facility.

This facility uses SAS/ACCESS to connect to a data source and to send statements directly to the data source for execution. This facility is an alternative to the SAS/ACCESS LIBNAME statement. It enables you to use the SQL syntax of your data source, and it supports any non-ANSI standard SQL that is supported by your data source.

The Pass-Through Facility enables you to do the following:

• establish and terminate connections with a data source using the facility's CONNECT Statement and DISCONNECT Statement

• send dynamic, non-query, data source-specific SQL statements to a data source using the facility's EXECUTE Statement

• retrieve data directly from a data source using the facility's CONNECTION TO Component in the FROM clause of a PROC SQL SELECT statement

You can use Pass-Through Facility statements in a PROC SQL query or you can store them in a PROC SQL view. When you create a PROC SQL view, any arguments that you specify in the CONNECT statement are stored with the view. Therefore, when the view is used in a SAS program, SAS can establish the appropriate connection to the data source.

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