If you select File ► Exit or click the X in the upper right corner of the SAS window, the session ends normally and the SAS automatic library is deleted. This library, WORK, is where temporary data sets and utility files are stored. SAS retains a list of all files created during a current SAS session and deletes the specified files at termination.

If SAS terminates due to an error in processing your SAS program, SAS does not have the opportunity to delete files in your WORK library. These files remain on your hard drive, potentially taking up large amounts of disk space, until you delete these files. You might also receive the following error message:

To circumvent the problem, delete the files in your SAS WORK library.

To determine where your SAS WORK files are located do the following:

1. Start SAS.
2. In the SAS Explorer window, double-click Libraries.
3. Right-click WORK and select Properties.
4. Next to General Properties, click the Down Arrow.
5. The drive letter and directories appear in the pull-down window. All the directories, except the last directory, which usually starts with _TD, is the location of your WORK files.

To delete the files, do the following:

1. Exit all SAS sessions.
2. Through Windows Explorer, go to your SAS WORK directory as determined above.
3. Delete all files and subdirectories (and subsequent files) in your WORK directory.

Note: This directory might be empty already.

In SAS, if you go to the SAS Explorer window and click Libraries, and then right-click the Work library under General Properties, your WORK directory might be displayed like this:

To view the files and directories in your WORK library, open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\TEMP\SAS Temporary Files (or the location found under the WORK library properties). You should see a directory or directories starting with _TD. After closing SAS, you can delete all of the files in the _td directories and you can delete all the directory names starting with _td. These files are good only during the active SAS session. Once SAS is closed, the temporary files are no longer usable.

Operating System and Release Information

Product Family	Product	System	SAS Release
			Reported	Fixed*
SAS System	Base SAS	Windows	n/a

* For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.

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Type:	Usage Note
Priority:	low

Date Modified:	2013-08-20 17:31:36
Date Created:	2002-12-16 10:56:45