System Options under OpenVMS

SORTSIZE= System Option: OpenVMS

Specifies the amount of memory that is available to the SORT procedure.

Default:	MAX
Valid in:	configuration file, SAS invocation, OPTIONS statement, SAS System Options window, VMS_SAS_OPTIONS DCL symbol
Category:	Sort: Procedure options
	System administration: Memory
PROC OPTIONS GROUP=	SORT
	MEMORY
OpenVMS specifics:	default value
See:	SORTSIZE= System Option in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary

Syntax
Details
See Also

Syntax

SORTSIZE=n | nK | nM | nG | hex X | MIN | MAX

n | nK | nM | nG

specifies the amount of memory in multiples of 1 (bytes); 1,024 (kilobytes); 1,048,576 (megabytes); or 1,073,741,824 (gigabytes). You can specify decimal values for the number of kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes. For example, a value of 8 specifies 8 bytes, a value of .782k specifies 801 bytes, and a value of 3m specifies 3,145,728 bytes.

If n=0, the sort utility uses its default.

hexX

specifies the amount of memory as a hexadecimal value. You must specify the value beginning with a number (0-9), followed by hexadecimal characters (0-9, A-F), and then followed by an X. For example, the value 2dx sets the amount of memory to 45 bytes.

MIN

specifies the minimum amount of memory available.

MAX

depends on the sort utility. For the SAS sort utility, MAX specifies the maximum amount of memory available. For the host sort utility, MAX specifies an amount that is based on the size of the input file. For more information about how these values are determined, contact SAS Technical Support.

Details

Generally, the value of the SORTSIZE= system option should be less than the physical memory available to your process. If the SORT procedure needs more memory than you specify, the system creates a temporary utility file.

For OpenVMS, the default value for SORTSIZE is MAX.

Note: Proper specification of SORTSIZE= can improve sort performance by restricting the swapping of memory that is controlled by the operating environment. [cautionend]