A SAS data file is a type of SAS data
set that contains both the data values and the descriptor information.
SAS data files have the member type of DATA. There are two general
types of SAS data files:
stores the data values
and descriptor information in a file that is formatted by SAS.
stores the data in
a file that was formatted by software other than SAS. SAS provides
engines for reading and writing data from files that were formatted
by software such as ORACLE, DB2, Sybase, ODBC, BMDP, SPSS, and OSIRIS.
These files are interface SAS data files, and when their data values
are accessed through an engine, SAS recognizes them as SAS data sets.
Note: The availability of engines
that can access different types of interface data files is determined
by your site licensing agreement. See your system administrator to
determine which engines are available. For more information about
SAS Multi Engine Architecture, see
SAS Engines.