LIBNAME Statement: PC Files on Microsoft Windows

DBGEN_NAME

Specifies whether to rename columns automatically when they contain disallowed characters.

Valid in:	DATA and PROC steps (when accessing PC files data using SAS/ACCESS software)
Default value:	LIBNAME option setting

Syntax
Syntax Description
Details
See Also

Syntax

DBGEN_NAME=DBMS|SAS

Syntax Description

DBMS: specifies that disallowed characters are converted to underscores.
SAS: specifies that columns that contain disallowed characters are converted into valid SAS variable names, using the format _COLn, where n is the column number (starting with zero). If a name is converted to a name that already exists, a sequence number is appended to the end of the new name.

Details

SAS retains column names when reading data, unless a column name contains characters that SAS does not allow, such as $ or @. SAS allows alphanumeric characters and the underscore (_).

This option is intended primarily for National Language Support. Notably the conversion of kanji to English characters. The English characters converted from kanji are often not allowed in SAS. If you specify DBGEN_NAME=SAS, a column named DEPT$AMT is renamed to _COLn where n is the column number. If you specify DBGEN_NAME=DBMS, a column named DEPT$AMT is renamed to DEPT_AMT.