Changing the Encoding for Base SAS Sessions :: SAS(R) Scalable Performance Data Server 5.1: User's Guide, Second Edition

You can change the session encoding by using the LOCALE= system option, the ENCODING= system option, or both. Note that valid values for both options are host dependent.

Here is how you can set the Base SAS (not SPD Server) session encoding when NONLSCOMPATMODE is specified:

You can specify the LOCALE= system option in a configuration file, at SAS invocation, in an OPTIONS statement, or in the SAS System Options window. In SAS 9, several NLS-related system options are automatically set, based on the value of LOCALE=. Most customers will implicitly set encoding with the LOCALE= system option.
You can specify the ENCODING= system option in a configuration file or at SAS invocation.
Here is how LOCALE= and ENCODING= interact:
- If a value is not specified for ENCODING= (that is, the installation default is set), then specifying a value for LOCALE= sets the encoding based on the LOCALE= value. In addition, values for the following system options are set based on the LOCALE= value: DFLANG=, TRANTAB=, DATESTYLE=, and PAPERSIZE=.
- If a value is specified for ENCODING=, that value sets the session encoding and overrides LOCALE=.
- If the value specified for LOCALE= is not compatible with the value specified for ENCODING=, then the value for LOCALE= is used. A warning message is provided if ENCODING= and LOCALE= conflict.
If the DBCS system option is set, which specifies that SAS process DBCS encodings, the values for DBCSLANG= and DBCSTYPE= system options determine the session encoding and the locale. These options are used for Asian languages or for English with DBCS extensions.

Here is an example of implicitly setting the Base SAS (not SPD Server) session encoding based on the specified locale when you invoke SAS:

sas9 -explorer -locale spanish

Here is an example of explicitly setting the Base SAS (not SPD Server) session encoding with the OPTIONS statement:

options encoding=wlatin2;