About SAS Names

A SAS name is a name that is assigned to items such as columns and tables. For most SAS names, the first character must be a letter or an underscore. Subsequent characters can be letters, numbers, or underscores. Blanks and special characters (except the underscore) are not allowed. The maximum length of a SAS name depends on the language element to which it is assigned. Many SAS names, such as column names, can be 32 characters long. Other SAS names, such as librefs, have a maximum length of eight characters. For more information about SAS names, see SAS Language Reference: Concepts.
Because SAS Federation Server languages include naming restrictions, such as reserved keywords, and some third-party databases allow case-sensitive names and names with special characters, you must show special consideration when you use the names for tables and columns. This section presents default naming behaviors and options that can modify naming behavior.