The CONVERT procedure
is closely related to the interface library engines BMDP, OSIRIS,
and SPSS. (In fact, the CONVERT procedure uses these engines.) For
example, the following two sections of code provide identical results:
filename myfile 'mybmdp.dat';
proc convert bmdp=myfile out=temp;
run;
libname myfile bmdp 'mybmdp.dat';
data temp;
set myfile._first_;
run;
However, the BMDP, OSIRIS,
and SPSS engines provide more extensive capability than PROC CONVERT.
For example, PROC CONVERT converts only the first BMDP member in
a save file. The BMDP engine, in conjunction with the COPY procedure,
copies all members.