SAS Filename Extensions and File Headers

Filename Extensions: Identifying the SAS Engine and Operating Environment Used to Create a SAS File

You can infer from the SAS filename extension the SAS engine and the operating environment under which a SAS file was created. For SAS 6 and later, these operating environments use filename extensions to reflect the SAS engine and the SAS member that is created:

OpenVMS
z/OS (SAS 8 and later UNIX System Services Directory)
UNIX
Windows

This table lists SAS filename extensions for members by operating environment and SAS version.

SAS Filename Extension by Operating Environment Type and SAS Version
Member	SAS Filename Extensions
	SAS 6			SAS 8 and Later
	UNIX	OpenVMS	Windows	UNIX, OpenVMS, z/OS*, and Windows
.SAS	.sas	.SAS	.sas	.sas
PROGRAM (DATA step)	.sspnn	.SASEB$PROGRAM	.ss2	sas7bpgm
DATA	.ssdnn	.SASEB$DATA	.sd2	.sas7bdat
INDEX	.snxnn	.SASEB$INDEX	.si2	.sas7bndx
CATALOG	.sctnn	.SASEB$CATALOG	.sc2	.sas7bcat
MDDB	.ssmnn	.SASEB$MDDB	.sm2	.sas7bmdb
PROC SQL view	.snvnn	SASEB$VIEW	.sv2	.sas7bvew
ITEMSTOR	not applicable	not applicable	not applicable	.sas7bitm

The extension nn is used to differentiate among UNIX computer architectures. To learn the values of nn under UNIX operating environments, see UNIX Operating Environment Filename Extensions.

* refers to SAS 8 and later z/OS UNIX System Services Directory.

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