When the LIBNAME engine reads
a column name that contains characters that are not allowed in standard
SAS names, the default behavior is to replace an unsupported character
with an underscore (_). For example, the database column name
Amount
Budgeted$ becomes the SAS name
Amount_Budgeted_.
Note: Nonstandard names include
those with blank spaces or special characters (such as @, #, %) that
are not allowed in SAS names unless the VALIDVARNAME=ANY option is
set. When a SAS data set contains special characters in column names
and the data set is accessed with VALIDVARNAME=ANY not set, the LIBNAME
engine replaces the special characters with underscores, but no message
is issued.
When SAS encounters
a DBMS name that exceeds 32 characters, SAS truncates the name. After
it has modified or truncated a DBMS column name, SAS appends a number
to the name, if necessary, to preserve uniqueness. For example, DBMS
column names
MY$DEPT,
My$Dept,
and
my$dept become SAS names
MY_DEPT,
MY_Dept0,
and
my_dept1.
To change how SAS handles
case-sensitive or nonstandard table and column names, specify one
or more of the following options:
is a LIBNAME statement
and data set option. When set to YES, this option preserves blank
spaces, special characters, and mixed case in column names. See
PRESERVE_COL_NAMES= LIBNAME Statement Option for more information about this option.
is a LIBNAME statement
option. When set to YES, this option preserves blank spaces, special
characters, and mixed case in table names. See
PRESERVE_TAB_NAMES= LIBNAME Statement Option for more information about this option.
The availability of
these options and their default settings are data source specific.
See the naming conventions documentation for each data source reference
in the
DataFlux Federation Server Administrator’s
Guide.