Accessing BMDP, SPSS, and OSIRIS Files

The BMDP, SPSS, and OSIRIS Engines

Introduction to the BMDP, SPSS, and OSIRIS Engines

The following read-only engines enable you to access files that were created with other vendors' software as if those files were written by SAS software:

BMDP	accesses system files that were created with BMDP Statistical Software.
SPSS	accesses SPSS files that were created under Release 9 of SPSS as well as SPSS-X system files and portable export files that are created by using the SPSS EXPORT command.
OSIRIS	accesses OSIRIS files.

You can use these engines in any SAS applications or procedures that do not require random access. For example, by using one of the engines with the CONTENTS procedure and its _ALL_ option, you can determine the contents of an entire SPSS file.

Restrictions on the Use of These Engines

Because these are sequential engines, they cannot be used with the POINT= option of the SET statement nor with the FSBROWSE, FSEDIT, or FSVIEW procedures in SAS/FSP software. However, you can use the COPY procedure or a DATA step to copy a BMDP, SPSS, or OSIRIS file to a SAS data set, and then either use POINT= or use SAS/FSP to browse or edit the file.

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