Glossary: Glossary

Glossary

aggregate storage location: a location on an operating system that can contain a group of distinct files. On different operating systems, different terms (such as directory, folder, or partitioned data set) are used to refer to an aggregate storage location.
allocation: the z/OS operating system's term for associating a logical name (ddname) with an operating system data set.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange: a 7-bit character encoding that is the U.S. national variant of the ISO 646 standard. The ASCII encoding includes the upper- and lowercase letters A-Z, digits, symbols (such as &, #, and mathematical symbols), punctuation marks, and control characters. This set of 128 characters is also included in most other encodings. Short form: ASCII. See also Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code and encoding.
ASCII: See American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
assignment: SAS software's internal association between a logical name (that is, a libref or a fileref) and an operating system data set. For SAS libraries, an assignment also associates a SAS engine with the operating system data set. See also allocation.
batch job: a job (program) that is submitted to the operating system for batch processing. Under z/OS, the job begins with a JCL JOB statement and ends with a JCL null (//) statement. See also batch mode.
batch mode: a method of running SAS programs in which you prepare a file that contains SAS statements plus any necessary operating system control statements and submit the file to the operating system. Execution is completely separate from other operations at your terminal. Batch mode is sometimes referred to as running in the background.
block: a unit of physical storage on disk or tape that is used for transferring data between an operating system or an application program and the storage media. Under z/OS, blocks are separated from each other by spaces called interblock gaps. The format of the data that is stored in a block depends on the access method and on the application that created the data.
block size: the number of bytes in a block. See also block.
blocking factor: the number of logical records that fit in one block. See also block.
cataloged procedure: See SAS cataloged procedure.
character set: the set of characters that are used by a language or group of languages. A character set includes national characters, special characters (such as punctuation marks and mathematical symbols), the digits 0-9, and control characters that are needed by the computer. Most character sets also include the unaccented upper- and lowercase letters A-Z. See also national character.
CLIST: an abbreviation for command list. A CLIST consists of a planned, executable sequence of TSO commands, subcommands, and command procedure statements that control various system and program operations.
DASD: See direct access storage device.
data control block: on IBM mainframe operating systems such as z/OS and OS/390, a storage area that contains information about the physical characteristics of an operating system data set. Short form: DCB.
data set: See operating system data set, partitioned data set, SAS data set, sequential data set, VSAM data set.
data set label: in a SAS data set, a user-defined attribute of up to 200 characters that is used for documenting the SAS data set. Under z/OS, this term can also refer to a format 1 data set control block (DSCB) for a data set on disk or to an IBM label for a data set on tape.
DCB: See data control block.
DD statement: a data definition statement that describes an operating system data set to the operating system, including information about the resources that are needed for the data set. The manner in which a program can use a data set depends on the parameters in the DD statement.
ddname: a short name that is assigned to the physical location of a z/OS file when the file is allocated by a JCL DD statement or a TSO ALLOCATE command.
direct access bound library: a random (as opposed to sequential) SAS library that is stored as a regular z/OS operating system data set. The term bound emphasizes the fact that the library is a single physical file that contains all of the members of that library. This characteristic distinguishes direct access bound libraries from HFS libraries and hiperspace libraries. See also HFS library and hiperspace library.
direct access storage device: a drum or disk storage device that allows direct access to data. Short form: DASD.
EBCDIC: See Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code.
EBCDIC collating sequence: an ordering of characters that follows the order in the EBCDIC encoding method. SAS uses the same collating sequence as its host operating environment. See also ASCII collating sequence, Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code.
encoding: a set of characters (letters, logograms, digits, punctuation, symbols, control characters, and so on) that have been mapped to numeric values (called code points) that can be used by computers. The code points are assigned to the characters in the character set by applying an encoding method.
engine/host option: an option that is specified in a LIBNAME statement. Engine/host options specify attributes that apply to all SAS data sets in a SAS library.
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code: a group of 8-bit character encodings that each include up to 256 characters. EBCDIC is used on IBM mainframes and on most IBM mid- range computers, and it includes both graphic (printable) codes and control (nonprintable) codes. Short form: EBCDIC. See also American Standard Code for Information Interchange and encoding.
external file: a file that is created and maintained by a host operating system or by another vendor's software application. SAS can read data from and route output to external files. External files can contain raw data, SAS programming statements, procedure output, or output that was created by the PUT statement. Under z/OS, JCL libraries and load libraries are also external files. A SAS data set is not an external file.
fatal error: an error that causes a program to end abnormally or that prevents the program from starting.
fileref: a name that is temporarily assigned to an external file or to an aggregate storage location such as a partitioned data set, a directory, or a folder. Under z/OS, a ddname and a fileref are generally the same. The ddname (which is assigned with a JCL DD statement) is used by the operating system to allocate and reference the file. The fileref (which is assigned with a SAS FILENAME statement or function) is used by SAS to allocate and reference the file.
format library: a collection of user-defined formats and informats. The format library can be a FORMATS catalog in a SAS library, or on z/OS it can also be a load library that contains SAS formats and informats in load module form. See also load library.
HFS library: a directory in the hierarchical file system of UNIX System Services. Members of an HFS library are individual files in the HFS directory. This characteristic distinguishes HFS libraries from direct access bound libraries. See also UNIX System Services.
hiperspace: a range of contiguous virtual storage addresses that is not normally addressable by applications but which an executing z/OS program can use as a buffer.
hiperspace library: a group of files that are loaded into a z/OS hiperspace. The fact that a hiperspace library consists of a group of files distinguishes hiperspace libraries from the single-file format of direct access bound libraries. See also hiperspace.
host operating environment: the operating environment (computer, operating system, and other software and hardware) that provides centralized control for software applications.
host option: in a SAS statement, an option that is specific to a particular operating environment.
I/O time: an abbreviation for input/output time. I/O time is the time the computer spends on moving data from storage areas, such as disk or tape, into memory for work (input time) and moving the result out of memory to storage or to a display device, such as a terminal or a printer (output time).
ISPF: an interactive interface that can be used to facilitate many programming tasks. The complete name is the Interactive System Productivity Facility/Program Development Facility (ISPF/PDF).
ISPF/PDF: See ISPF.
JCL: See Job Control Language.
job: a unit of work that is performed by a host computer.
Job Control Language: a language that is used in the z/OS and OS/390 operating environments to communicate information about a job to the operating system, including information about the data sets, execution time, and amount of memory that the job needs. Short form: JCL.
job stream: the JCL statements in a batch job. These statements identify operating system data sets, execute programs, and provide data that are processed by the job. See also Job Control Language.
libref: a name that is temporarily associated with a SAS library. The complete name of a SAS file consists of two words, separated by a period. The libref, which is the first word, indicates the library. The second word is the name of the specific SAS file. For example, in VLIB.NEWBDAY, the libref VLIB tells SAS which library contains the file NEWBDAY. You assign a libref with a LIBNAME statement or with an operating system command. Under z/OS, you can use a TSO ALLOCATE statement or a JCL DD statement to allocate a SAS library. In that case, SAS assigns a libref that is the same as the ddname.
load library: an external file that contains load modules. These can be modules that are supplied by SAS, or they could be compiled and linked by other sources. See also format library and load module.
load module: a complete machine-level program in a form that is ready to be loaded into main memory and executed.
logical name: a name that is associated with an operating system data set name. Under z/OS, a logical name can be a ddname, a fileref, or a libref. An example is the logical name SASUSER, which is used in the SAS CLIST and in the SAS cataloged procedure. See also assignment and ddname.
member: (1) a SAS file in a SAS library. (2) under z/OS, a single component of a partitioned data set.
member name: a name that is assigned to a SAS file in a SAS library. Under z/OS, this term can also refer to the name of a single component of a partitioned data set.
memory: the size of the work area that the central processing unit (CPU) must devote to the operations in a program.
metadata: data about data. For example, metadata typically describes resources that are shared by multiple applications within an organization. These resources can include software, servers, data sources, network connections, and so on. Metadata can also be used to define application users and to manage users' access to resources. Maintaining metadata in a central location is more efficient than specifying and maintaining the same information separately for each application.
national character: any character that is specific to a language as it is written in a particular nation or group of nations.
nibble: half a byte, or 4 bits (binary digits).
operating system data set: a collection of information that IBM mainframe operating systems such as z/OS and OS/390 can identify and manage as a unit. IBM operating system data sets correspond to files under other operating systems. Partitioned data sets (PDSs), sequential data sets, and VSAM data sets are some types of data sets that are supported in IBM mainframe environments. By contrast, SAS data sets are managed by SAS software, not by any operating system, although they can be stored as members of partitioned data sets or in sequential data sets on IBM mainframes. See also partitioned data set, SAS data set, sequential data set, and VSAM data set.
partitioned data set: a type of operating system data set that consists of one or more separate units of information called members, plus a directory. For each member, a unique name is entered in the PDS directory. Partitioned data sets must reside on disk. Short form: PDS. See also operating system data set.
PCL: See Printer Command Language.
PDS: See partitioned data set.
portability: the ability of a program to execute in an operating environment other than the one for which it was written.
portable: See portability.
Printer Command Language: a command language that was developed by Hewlett-Packard for controlling Hewlett-Packard printers. Each PCL command consists of an escape key followed by a series of code numbers. Different versions of PCL have been developed for use with different models or types of Hewlett-Packard printers. Short form: PCL.
PROFILE catalog: See SASUSER.PROFILE catalog.
random access: in the SAS data model, a pattern of access by which SAS processes observations according to the value of some indicator variable without processing all observations sequentially.
record: a logical unit of related data that can be fixed, variable, or undefined in length.
Resource Measurement Facility: a feature of the z/OS and OS/390 operating systems that records information about each job that is processed. Short form: RMF.
RMF: See Resource Measurement Facility.
SAS cataloged procedure: a group of JCL statements that are used to invoke SAS during the execution of a batch job. You can use a single EXEC statement to invoke all the JCL statements in the SAS cataloged procedure. The SAS cataloged procedure is supplied with Base SAS in the z/OS environment. However, it can be customized at each site.
SAS data set: a file whose contents are in one of the native SAS file formats. There are two types of SAS data sets: SAS data files and SAS data views. SAS data files contain data values in addition to descriptor information that is associated with the data. SAS data views contain only the descriptor information plus other information that is required for retrieving data values from other SAS data sets or from files that are stored in other software vendors' file formats.
SAS library: in the z/OS operating environment, an operating system data set whose internal format has been defined by SAS. The internal format divides the DASD space that has been allocated to the operating system data set into space for each SAS file that is stored in the library. Each file is a member of the library.
SASHELP library: a SAS library supplied by SAS software that stores the text for Help windows, default function-key definitions and window definitions, and menus.
SASUSER library: a default, permanent SAS library that is created at the beginning of your first SAS session. The SASUSER library contains a PROFILE catalog that stores the customized features or settings that you specify for SAS. You can also store other SAS files in this library. See also SAS data library and SASUSER.PROFILE catalog
SASUSER.PROFILE catalog: a SAS catalog in which SAS stores information about attributes of your SAS windowing environment. For example, this catalog contains function-key definitions, fonts for graphics applications, window attributes, and other information that is used by interactive SAS procedures.
sequential access: a method of file access in which the records are read or written one after the other from the beginning of the file to the end.
sequential data set: a type of operating system data set that is organized so that its data is processed in order, from beginning to end. Sequential data sets can reside either on disk or on tape. Under z/OS, SAS libraries can be created and processed as sequential data sets, but sequential files can also contain data that is external to SAS and that can be processed by different applications. See also operating system data set.
SMF: See System Management Facility.
System Management Facility: a feature of the z/OS and OS/390 operating systems that provides information about the computing resources that the operating system utilizes when it runs a job. Short form: SMF.
UNIX System Services: an IBM term for the directory-based hierarchical file system that is available in the z/OS operating environment. Short form: USS.
USER library: a SAS library to which the libref USER has been assigned. When the libref USER is defined, SAS data sets that have one-level names are stored in this library instead of in the temporary WORK library.
USS: See Unix System Services.
VTOC: an acronym for the volume table of contents of a disk. The VTOC contains the name, date of creation, size, and location of operating system data sets. If the VTOC is not indexed, then it also contains information about the amount of unused space on the disk.
WORK library: a SAS library that is automatically defined by SAS at the beginning of each SAS session or SAS job. Unless you have specified a USER library, any newly created SAS file that has a one-level name will be placed in the WORK library by default and will be deleted at the end of the current SAS session or job.

Top of Page