Product	Release
Base SAS	9.2

SAS Data Set Options

REPEMPTY= Data Set Option

Specifies whether a new, empty data set can overwrite an existing SAS data set that has the same name.

Valid in:	DATA step and PROC steps
Category:	Data Set Control
Restriction:	Use with output data sets only.

Syntax

REPEMPTY=YES | NO

YES

specifies that a new empty data set with a given name replaces an existing data set with the same name. This is the default.

Interaction:

When REPEMPTY=YES and REPLACE=NO, then the data set is not replaced.

NO

specifies that a new empty data set with a given name does not replace an existing data set with the same name.

Tip:	Use REPEMPTY=NO to prevent the following syntax error from replacing the existing data set B with the new empty data set B that is created by mistake: data mylib.a set b;
Tip:	For both the convenience of replacing existing data sets with new ones that contain data and the protection of not overwriting existing data sets with new empty ones that are created by accident, set REPLACE=YES and REPEMPTY=NO.

For an individual data set, the REPEMPTY= data set option overrides the REPEMPTY= option in the LIBNAME statement.
The REPEMPTY= and REPLACE= data set options apply to both permanent and temporary SAS data sets. The REPLACE system option, however, only applies to permanent SAS data sets.