If you use the SORT function in SAS Component Language to sort a table to an output table by specifying the OUT= option and you specify more than one SAS data set option as in the following example,

rc=sort(dsid, 'age', '/out=myLib.sorted(label="xyz" drop=weight)'); 

the function might fail with a non-zero return code such as 219 or 253. If you use the SYSMSG function to query the associated system message for these return codes, the messages are the following respectively:

 
Invalid SORT option DROP WEIGHT)

Output data set for SORT cannot be opened.
 

To circumvent this problem, either specify just one of the SAS data set options in the SORT function or specify both options in a PROC SORT step within a SUBMIT block. Another alternative is to first sort the data to a temporary data set and then use the COPY function to create the permanent data set specifying all the SAS data set options. For example,

   rc=sort(dsid, 'age', '/out=tempsort);
   rc=copy('work.tempsort', 'myLib.sorted(label="xyz" drop=weight)'); 

Operating System and Release Information