47235 - A system abend 0C4 occurs when you use the FILEVAR option or a concatenated fileref in SAS® 9.3

Problem Note 47235: A system abend 0C4 occurs when you use the FILEVAR option or a concatenated fileref in SAS® 9.3

When you use an INFILE statement with the FILEVAR option to read concatenated files, an error might occur if a later file has a larger LRECL value than the first file. This problem can also occur if there are multiple data set names in a FILENAME statement.

An error similar to the following might appear in your SAS log:

System abend 0C4 occurred in module SASHOST function DSEALLB at offset 3D37C8.

For example, the following code creates two data sets with LRECL attributes of 500 and 18000 and then reads them in ways that might cause the error:

data _null_;
   file 'userid.test.lrecl500' lrecl=500 recfm=v;
   put 'lrecl500: record 1';
run;
 
data _null_;
   file 'userid.test.lrecl18k' lrecl=18000 recfm=v;
   put 'lrecl18k: record 1';

/* example with datasets concatenated in the FILENAME statement */ 

filename concat ('userid.sas.lrecl500' 'userid.sas.lrecl18k');

data _null_;
   infile concat pad;
   input;
   put _infile_;
run;

/* example with FILEVAR option in INPUT statement */ 
  
data test;                                                            
       length dsname $ 44;                                              
       if _n_=1 or fileend then link getfile;                           
       infile test filevar=dsname length=linelen end=fileend;           
       input @1 line $varying80. linelen;                               
       list;                                                            
       return;                                                          
                                                                        
  getfile:                                                              
       infile cards;                                                    
       input @1 dsname $char44.;                                        
       return;                                                          
                                                                        
       cards;                                                           
userid.test.lrecl500'                                                   
userid.test.lrecl18K'                                                   
run;

Workaround

You can circumvent this problem using the LS= option in the INFILE statement.

Code LS=nnnn in the INFILE statement, where nnnn is the largest LRECL of any data set being read.

The LS= option in the INFILE statement specifies how much of a record can be used by the INPUT statement. If the LRECL for a file is smaller than the LS= option, then the entire record is available for use by the INPUT statement. If the LRECL for a file is larger than the LS= option, then only the number of bytes specified in the LS= option is available to the INPUT statement.

A fix for this issue is planned for a future software release.

Operating System and Release Information

Product Family	Product	System	SAS Release
			Reported	Fixed*
SAS System	Base SAS	z/OS	9.3 TS1M1	9.4 TS1M0

* 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.

Type:	Problem Note
Priority:	medium

Date Modified:	2012-10-11 15:39:30
Date Created:	2012-08-15 11:37:13

Support

Problem Note 47235: A system abend 0C4 occurs when you use the FILEVAR option or a concatenated fileref in SAS® 9.3

Workaround

Operating System and Release Information