BUFNO= Table Option

Specifies the number of buffers to be allocated for processing a SAS data set.

Category: Table Control
Data source: SAS data set
Syntax
Arguments
Details

Syntax

BUFNO= n | nK | hexX | MIN | MAX

Arguments

n | nK

specifies the number of buffers in multiples of 1 (bytes); 1,024 (kilobytes). For example, a value of 8 specifies 8 buffers, and a value of 1K specifies 1024 buffers.

Requirement K must be uppercased.

hexX

specifies the number of buffers as a hexadecimal value. You must specify the value beginning with a number (0–9), followed by an X. For example, the value 2dX sets the number of buffers to 45 buffers.

Requirement X must be uppercased.

MIN

sets the minimum number of buffers to 0, which causes SAS to use the minimum optimal value for the operating environment. This is the default value.

MAX

sets the number of buffers to the maximum possible number in your operating environment, up to the largest four-byte, signed integer. The largest four-byte, signed integer is 231–1, or approximately 2 billion.

Details

The buffer number is not a permanent attribute of the data set; it is valid only for the current operation.
The BUFNO= table option applies to SAS data sets that are opened for input, output, or update.
A larger number of buffers can speed up execution time by limiting the number of input and output (I/O) operations that are required for a particular SAS data set. However, the improvement in execution time comes at the expense of increased memory consumption.
To reduce I/O operations on a small data set as well as speed execution time, allocate one buffer for each page of data to be processed. This technique is most effective if you read the same observations several times during processing.
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Last updated: February 23, 2017