In certain, rare cases, data loss can occur after you attempt to convert a CSV file with UTF-16LE encoding into a SAS data set. This issue is observed when either you use the Import Wizard in SAS^® Foundation or you submit a DATA step with an INFILE statement that contains a TERMSTR=CRLF argument. 

The issue can occur because the 0x000d 0x000a record-terminator sequence in the CSV file is seen as part of the record. If that happens, there is a problem reading the rest of the file. 

If you encounter this issue, there are two workarounds:

1. Use the Import Wizard in SAS^® Enterprise Guide^® to read the CSV file. It does not rely on the same underlying I/O routine that causes this issue.
2. If the CSV file is a Microsoft Excel file, resave the file with UTF-8 encoding. The problem is limited to cases in which the length of the record-terminator sequence is greater than one byte. With UTF‑8 encoding, both the carriage return (CR) and line feed (LF) values require only a single byte to encode.

Click the Hot Fix tab in this note to access the hot fix for this issue.

Operating System and Release Information

A fix for this issue for Base SAS 9.4_M6 is available at:

A fix for this issue for Base SAS 9.4_M3 is available at: