Importing Concatenated XML Documents

For a file that is a concatenation of multiple XML documents, you can use the XML engine to import the file. To import concatenated XML documents, simply specify the LIBNAME statement option XMLCONCATENATE=YES.

Note: Use XMLCONCATENATE=YES cautiously. If an XML document consists of concatenated XML documents, the content is not standard XML construction. The option is provided for convenience, not to encourage invalid XML markup.

This example imports the following file named ConcatStudents.XML, which consists of two XML documents:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<LIBRARY>
   <STUDENTS>
      <ID>1345</ID>
      <NAME>Linda Kay</NAME>
      <SCHOOL>Bellaire</SCHOOL>
      <CITY>Houston</CITY>
   </STUDENTS>
   <STUDENTS>
      <ID>2456</ID>
      <NAME>Chas Wofford</NAME>
      <SCHOOL>Sam Houston</SCHOOL>
      <CITY>Houston</CITY>
   </STUDENTS>
   <STUDENTS>
      <ID>3567</ID>
      <NAME>Jerry Kolar</NAME>
      <SCHOOL>Sharpstown</SCHOOL>
      <CITY>Houston</CITY>
   </STUDENTS>
</LIBRARY>

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<LIBRARY>
   <STUDENTS>
      <ID>1234</ID>
      <NAME>Brad Martin</NAME>
      <SCHOOL>Reagan</SCHOOL>
      <CITY>Austin</CITY>
   </STUDENTS>
   <STUDENTS>
      <ID>2345</ID>
      <NAME>Zac Harvell</NAME>
      <SCHOOL>Westwood</SCHOOL>
      <CITY>Austin</CITY>
   </STUDENTS>
   <STUDENTS>
      <ID>3456</ID>
      <NAME>Walter Smith</NAME>
      <SCHOOL>Bowie</SCHOOL>
      <CITY>Austin</CITY>
   </STUDENTS>
</LIBRARY>

First, using the default XML engine behavior, which does not support concatenated XML documents (XMLCONCATENATE=NO), the following SAS program imports the first XML document, which consists of three observations, and produces an error for the second XML document:

libname concat xml '/u/My Documents/XML/ConcatStudents.xml';

proc datasets library=concat;

SAS Log Output


NOTE: Libref CONCAT was successfully assigned as follows:
      Engine:        XML
      Physical Name: /u/My Documents/XML/ConcatStudents.xml
20   proc datasets library=concat;
ERROR: "xml" is illegal as a processing-instruction target name.
       encountered during XMLMap parsing
       occurred at or near line 23, column 7

                                            Directory

       Libref         CONCAT
       Engine         XML
       Physical Name  /u/My Documents/XML/ConcatStudents.xml
       XMLType        GENERIC
       XMLMap         NO XMLMAP IN EFFECT


                                                    Member
                                       #  Name      Type

                                       1  STUDENTS  DATA

Specifying the LIBNAME statement option XMLCONCATENATE=YES enables the XML engine to import the concatenated XML documents as one SAS data set:

libname concat xml '/u/My Documents/XML/ConcatStudents.xml' xmlconcatenate=yes;

proc print data=concat.students;
run;

PRINT Procedure Output for CONCAT.STUDENTS