The ACCESS Procedure for PC Files

RENAME Statement

Modifies the SAS variable name.

Note:

For DBF, DIF, WK1, WK3, WK4, Excel 4, Excel 5, and Excel 95 file formats under Windows operating environments, access descriptor or view descriptor ASSIGN, RESET

Syntax

Details

Syntax

RENAME= 'column-identifier1' 'SAS variable-name1' , 'column-identifierN' 'SAS variable-name-n'

Details

The RENAME statement enters or modifies the SAS variable name that is associated with a column in a PC file. Use the RENAME statement when creating an access descriptor or a view descriptor.

An editing statement, such as RENAME, must follow the CREATE statement and the database-description statements when you create a descriptor. See "Create Statement" for additional information.

Two factors affect the use of the RENAME statement: whether you specify the ASSIGN statement when you are creating an access descriptor, and the type of descriptor that you are creating.

If you omit the ASSIGN statement or specify it with a NO value, the renamed SAS variable names that you specify in the access descriptor are retained throughout a SAS/ACCESS procedure execution. For example, if you rename the Customer column to CustNum when you create an access descriptor, that column continues to be named CustNum when you select it in a view descriptor unless a RESET statement or another RENAME statement is specified.

When creating a view descriptor that is based on this access descriptor, you can specify the RESET statement or another RENAME statement to rename the variable again, but the new name applies only in that view. When you create other view descriptors, the SAS variable names are derived from the access descriptor variable names.
If you specify the YES value in the ASSIGN statement, you can use the RENAME statement to change SAS variable names only while creating an access descriptor. SAS variable names, and formats that are saved in an access descriptor are always used when creating view descriptors that are based on it.

The column-identifier argument can be either the column name or the positional equivalent from the LIST statement. This is the number that represents the column's place in the descriptor. To rename SAS variables that are associated with the seventh column and the nine-character FIRSTNAME column in a descriptor, submit this statement:

RENAME 7 birthdy 'firstname'=fname;

The column name, or positional equivalent is specified on the left side of the expression, with the SAS variable name on the right side. The equal sign (=) is optional. If the column name contains lowercase characters, special characters, or national characters, enclose the name in quotation marks. You can rename as many columns as you want in one RENAME statement.

When you are creating a view descriptor, the RENAME statement automatically selects the renamed column for the view. If you rename the SAS variable associated with a column, you do not have to issue a SELECT statement for that column.

When creating an access descriptor, the RENAME statement also re-selects previously dropped columns that were dropped with the DROP statement.