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.