Setting the Encoding for Base SAS Sessions

When SAS 9 is installed, the Base SAS (not SPD Server) default encoding is host dependent and is determined by the default settings for several SAS system options. Here are three system options that you should be familiar with:
ENCODING=
establishes the session encoding, which is the encoding that SAS uses to process syntax, process SAS data sets, and read and write external files. The default value is host dependent; all are SBCS encodings:
Default Session Encodings
Host
Value
Description
OpenVMS
Latin1
Western (ISO)
z/OS
OPEN_ED_1047
OpenEdition EBCDIC cp1047-Latin1
UNIX
Latin1
Western (ISO)
Windows
WLatin1
Western (Windows)
LOCALE=
specifies the locale of the SAS session. The locale reflects the local language, conventions, and culture for a particular geographical region. A locale's conventions can include the formatting of dates, times, and numbers, and printer preferences like paper size. Specifying a locale also automatically sets the default encoding that establishes the session encoding; a locale has a common encoding that is used most often for a particular operating environment. The default locale is English, and the common encodings for English are the defaults above for ENCODING=.
NONLSCOMPATMODE | NLSCOMPATMODE
provides national language compatibility for non-English data processing using native characters. For SAS 9, the default is NONLSCOMPATMODE, which provides consistency for running SAS on multiple systems. NONLSCOMPATMODE specifies that data is to be processed in the encoding that is set by the ENCODING= or LOCALE= system option.