VALIDVARNAME= System Option
Specifies the rules for valid SAS column names that
can be created and processed during a SAS session.
| Valid in: |
configuration file, SAS invocation, OPTIONS statement, SAS
System Options window
|
| Category: |
Files: SAS Files |
| PROC OPTIONS GROUP= |
SASFILES |
| Default: |
V7 |
| Requirement: |
You must also specify PRESERVE_COL_NAMES=YES LIBNAME
statement data source processing option.
|
| Supports: |
All |
Syntax
VALIDVARNAME=V7 | UPCASE | ANY
Syntax Description
- V7
-
specifies that column
names must follow these rules:
-
can be up to 32 characters in length.
-
must begin with a letter of the
Latin alphabet (A - Z, a - z) or the underscore character. Subsequent
characters can be letters of the Latin alphabet, numerals, or underscores.
-
-
cannot contain special characters
except for the underscore.
-
can contain mixed-case letters.
SAS stores and writes the column name in the same case that is used
in the first reference to the column. However, when SAS processes
a column name, SAS internally converts it to uppercase. You cannot,
therefore, use the same column name with a different combination of
uppercase and lowercase letters to represent different columns. For
example,
cat,
Cat,
and
CAT all represent the same column.
-
cannot be assigned the names of
special SAS automatic columns (such as _N_ and _ERROR_) or column
list names (such as _NUMERIC_, _CHARACTER_, and _ALL_).
- UPCASE
-
specifies that the
column name follows the same rules as V7, except that the column name
is uppercase, as in earlier versions of SAS.
- ANY
-
specifies that SAS
column names must follow these rules:
-
can be up to 32 characters in length.
-
can begin with or contain any characters,
including blanks.
Note: If you use any characters
other than the ones that are valid when the VALIDVARNAME system option
is set to V7 (letters of the Latin alphabet, numerals, or underscores),
then you must express the column name as a
name
literal and you must set VALIDVARNAME=ANY. See
“SAS Name Literals” and “Avoiding Errors When
Using Name Literals” in
SAS Language Reference: Concepts.
-
can contain mixed-case letters.
SAS stores and writes the column name in the same case that is used
in the first reference to the column. However, when SAS processes
a column name, SAS internally converts it to uppercase. You cannot,
therefore, use the same column name with a different combination of
uppercase and lowercase letters to represent different columns. For
example,
cat,
Cat,
and
CAT all represent the same column.
Note: For more information about
SAS naming, see
SAS Language Reference: Concepts.