The ACCESS Procedure for PC Files

SAS Passwords for Descriptors

SAS enables you to control access to SAS data sets and access descriptors by associating one or more SAS passwords with them.
Password and Descriptor Interaction
Descriptor
READ=
WRITE=
ALTER=
access descriptor
no effect on descriptor
no effect on descriptor
protects descriptor from being read or updated
view descriptor
protects PC file data from being read or updated
protects PC file data from being updated
protects descriptor from being read or updated
In this example, the DATASETS procedure statement assigns the passwords MYPW and MYDEPT with READ and ALTER levels of protection to the view descriptor VLib.JobC204:
PROC DATASETS LIBRARY=vlib MEMTYPE=VIEW;
     MODIFY jobc204 (READ=mypw ALTER=mydept); 
RUN; 
For detailed information about the levels of protection and the types of passwords that you can use, refer to your Base SAS software documentation.