Introduction to the OpenVMS Operating Environment

OpenVMS File Types Used by SAS

SAS uses unique file types to distinguish between SAS files and OpenVMS external files in a directory.

CAUTION:: Do not change these file types.
The file types in the following sections are an integral part of how SAS accesses files under OpenVMS. Changing the file types can cause unpredictable results.

Most of the file types that SAS uses are assigned to files that are described as either temporary or permanent SAS files. A SAS file is stored in a SAS library and is referred to as a member of a library. Each member has a member type. SAS equates some OpenVMS file types with a general set of SAS member types that it uses under all operating environments.

The names of these file types have the following form:

engine-name-filetype

engine-name: is the name of the SAS engine, such as SAS7B for the BASE engine and SAS7S for the sequential engine.
filetype: is the type of file. For example, the sas7bdat file type is a data file that is accessed by the BASE engine.

For information about SAS engines, see Using SAS Engines.

In addition, two types of SAS temporary files exist, with OpenVMS file types of .SAS7BUTL and .SAS7BPUT. These files appear only in the SAS Work library.

File Types for External Files

External files can be processed by other programs and by the FILENAME function and the %INCLUDE, FILE, and INFILE statements in the SAS DATA step. (For more information about external files, see Using External Files and Devices.) SAS uses the following OpenVMS file types for external files:

.DAT: is an external file that contains data lines. This is the default file type that SAS uses when it is reading and writing lines with the INFILE and FILE statements. (For more information, see Default File Types.)
.LIS: is an external file that contains SAS procedure output. By default, the filename of the .LIS file matches the filename of the .SAS program file that generated the output.
.LOG: is the external file that contains the SAS log. By default, the filename of the .LOG file matches the name of the SAS program file that generated it.
.SAS: is a SAS program file--that is, an external file that contains SAS statements. Use this file type when you create a file that contains a SAS program. This is the default file type for the FILE command and for the %INCLUDE statement.
.TLB: is an OpenVMS text library. SAS can access text libraries as external file aggregates. Text library files typically store data or SAS programs that are related. For example, you might want to store all SAS programs that are associated with a particular application in one text library. (For more information about OpenVMS text libraries, see HP OpenVMS Command Definition, Librarian, and Message Utilities Manual.) OpenVMS text libraries are also often used to store SAS macros. (For more information about SAS macros, see Macro Facility under OpenVMS.)

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