The ACCESS Procedure for PC Files

PATH= Statement

Specifies the path and filename of the file to access.

Requirement:	This statement is required.
Valid:	for DBF, DIF, WK1, WK3, WK4, Excel 4, Excel 5, Excel 95 file formats under Windows operating environments
Applies to:	access descriptor

PATH= <'path and filename.PC-file-extension'>|<'filename'>|<fileref> ;

Details

The PATH= statement indicates the path and name of the file you want to access. The length of the filename and its other conventions can vary with the operating system. See the host documentation for your operating environment for more information.

For compatibility, place the PATH= statement immediately after the CREATE statement and before any other database-description statements when creating access descriptors. See CREATE Statement for more information.

You can specify the PATH= statement with one of these arguments:

'path and filename.PC-file-extension': specifies the fully qualified path and filename. You must enclose the entire path and filename in quotation marks, including the appropriate PC file extension, such as .dbf, .dif, .wk1, .wk3, wk4, .mdb, or .xls. If you omit the file extension, SAS/ACCESS software supplies it for you.
'filename': specifies the name of a file. The file must be located in your current (default) directory. If no extension is specified, the SAS/ACCESS interface supplies it for you. If the filename includes characters that are invalid in SAS names, such as the dollar sign ($) or if the filename begins with a number, you must enclose the entire filename in quotation marks.
fileref: specifies a fileref that references the path and name of the file. (Assigning a fileref with the FILENAME statement is described in Step-by-Step Programming with Base SAS Software.

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