Specifies whether to extend the maximum observation count in a new output SAS data file.
| Valid in: | DATA step and PROC steps |
| Category: | Data Set Control |
| Alias: | EOC= |
| Default: | YES |
| Restrictions: | Use with output data files only. |
| Use with the BASE engine only. |
requests an enhanced file format in a newly created SAS data file that counts observations beyond the 32-bit limitation. Although this SAS data file is created for an operating environment that stores the number of observations with a 32-bit integer, the data file behaves like a 64-bit file with respect to counters. This is the default.
| Restrictions | A SAS data file that is created with an extended observation count is incompatible with releases prior to SAS 9.3. If the SAS data file was created in SAS 9.3 or later and EXTENDOBSCOUNTER was set to YES when the SAS data file was created, you must re-create the SAS data file with EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=NO. |
| EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=YES is valid only for an output SAS data file whose internal data representation stores the observation count as a 32-bit integer. EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=YES is ignored for SAS data files with a 64-bit integer. For a table that lists the operating environments and the OUTREP= data representation values that are appropriate with EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=YES, see When Extending the Observation Count Is Supported in SAS Language Reference: Concepts. |
specifies that the maximum observation count in a newly created SAS data file is determined by the long integer size for the operating environment. In operating environments with a 32-bit integer, the maximum number is 231–1 or approximately two billion observations (2,147,483,647). In operating environments with a 64-bit integer, the maximum number is 263–1 or approximately 9.2 quintillion observations.