SAS Language Elements

The following SAS language elements have been enhanced:

Formats

The following SAS format and informat have been enhanced:

$HEXw. format: converts character values to hexadecimal values. The width range is increased to 1-32767.
$HEXw. informat: converts hexadecimal data to character data. The width range is increased to 1-32767.

Functions and CALL Routines

The following SAS function has been enhanced:

COLLATE

generates a collating sequence character string. The 200-character restriction has been removed.
The following SAS functions and CALL routines are no longer supported:
- HOSTHELP
- CALL ANSI2OEM
- CALL OEM2ANSI

Macros

The following SAS automatic macro variables are new:

SYSCC: contains the current SAS condition code that SAS returns to Windows when you exit SAS.
SYSMAXLONG: returns the maximum long integer value that is allowed under Windows.

Procedures

The following SAS procedure is no longer supported:

V5TOV6

Statements

The following SAS statements are new:

SYSTASK: executes, lists, or terminates asynchrnous tasks.
WAITFOR: suspends execution of the current SAS session until the specified tasks finish executing

The following SAS statements have been enhanced:

LIBNAME

associates a libref with a SAS data library, lists file attributes for a SAS data library, and can concatenate libraries. The valid values for the engine-name argument were modified:

the V8 engine is the current BASE engine
the V7 engine accesses Version 7 data sets.
the V6 engine accesses data sets for Release 6.04 and Release 6.08 through Release 6.12.

New host options for the LIBNAME statement include:

SHORTFILEEXT
LONGFILEEXT
MEMLIB

FILENAME

associates a SAS fileref with an external file or logical file device. The FILENAME statement now supports wildcard characters. [IMAGE]

In Version 8, when the COMMPORT option is specified, a new host option, DROPNULL, can be specified to discard null bytes when received. When using pipes, the host-option CONSOLE can be used to minimize the DOS window.

Commands

The following SAS commands are new:

DLGPAGESETUP: opens the Page Setup dialog box.
WATTENTION: displays the Tasking Manager window which allows you to select which SAS process to terminate.
WAUTOSAVE: controls how often the SAS System automatically saves work from the editor windows.
WDOCKVIEW: toggles the Docking View feature on and off.
WEDIT: opens an Enhanced Editor session.
WEXITSAVE: toggles the Save settings on exit feature on and off.
WHIDECURSOR: toggles hiding the cursor in non-input windows.
WNAVKEYUNMARK: toggles the setting to unmark text using navigational keys.
WRTFSAVE: saves a text window as a rich text format file.
WSCREENTIPS: toggles the ScreenTips on and off.
WWINDOWBAR: toggles the window bar on and off.

System Options

The following SAS system options are new:

ENHANCEDEDITOR: specifies to enable the Enhanced Editor during SAS System invocation.
FONTSLOC: specifies the directory location of the files that contain the SAS fonts that are loaded during the SAS session.
GISMAPS: specifies the name of the SAS data library that contains U.S. Census Tract maps supplied by SAS/GIS software.
HOSTPRINT: specifies that the Windows Print Manager is to be used for printing.
MEMCACHE: specifies to use Extended Server Memory Architecture (ESMA) memory as a SAS System cache.
MEMLIB: specifies to use Extended Server Memory Architecture (ESMA) memory as an in-memory library.
MSGCASE: specifies whether notes, warnings, and error messages that are generated by SAS are displayed in uppercase characters.
RESOURCELOC: specifies the directory location of the files that contain SAS resources.
SASINITIALFOLDER: specifies the current working folder and the default folder for the Open and Save As dialog boxes.
SCROLLBARFLASH: specifies whether to allow scrollbars to receive keyboard focus.
SGIO: specifies to enable Scatter-read/Gather-write I/O processing.
SHORTFILEEXT: defines all SAS libraries to support three-character file extensions.
UNBUFLOG: specifies the log to be unbuffered.

The following SAS system options have been enhanced:

ENGINE

specifies the default access method for SAS data libraries. The valid values for the engine-name argument were modified:

the V8 engine was added as the current BASE engine
the V7 engine was added to access Version 7 data sets.
the V6 engine was added to access Release 6.04 and Release 6.08 through Release 6.12 data sets.

CONFIG

specifies an alternative SAS configuration file. CONFIG may now be used multiple times on the command line or within configuration files.

The following SAS system options no longer have details that are specific for Windows:

CBUFNO

MSGLEVEL

NEWS

SYNCHIO

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