What Are the Metadata Language Elements?

When to Use Metadata Language Elements

Submitting a batch program can be helpful for repetitive maintenance tasks. You might want to run reports automatically overnight, when usage of the SAS Metadata Server is low. The language elements are flexible and can be adapted to almost any maintenance task. Here is an overview of the language elements:

System options: Use the system options to set defaults for metadata. They are organized into three groups: connection to the metadata server, encryption, and resources.
Metadata LIBNAME statement: As with other SAS engines, an administrator can assign a libref to serve as a shorthand for users. With the metadata engine, the underlying LIBNAME information is stored in metadata objects. The metadata engine helps implement security across an enterprise.
Data set options for the metadata engine: You can apply these data set options to one table, rather than to an entire library.
Procedures: You can use the procedures to perform many common maintenance tasks on metadata and the metadata server.
DATA step functions: The DATA step functions cover some of the same maintenance tasks as the procedures and, in many cases, do more than the procedures. The DATA step functions execute within a DATA step, so you can use the output from one function as the input to another function.

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