The ACCESS Procedure for PC Files

UNIQUE Statement

Generates SAS variable names based on PC file column names.

Alias:	UN
Note:	for DBF, DIF, WK1, WK3, WK4, Excel 4, Excel 5, and Excel 95 file formats under Windows operating environments view descriptor ASSIGN UPDATE

Syntax

Details

Syntax

UNIQUE = YES | NO | Y | N

Details

The UNIQUE statement specifies whether the SAS/ACCESS interface generates unique SAS variable names for PC file columns for which SAS variable names have not been entered. You cannot use the UNIQUE statement when you are updating a view descriptor.

An editing statement, such as UNIQUE, must follow the CREATE statement when you create a view descriptor.

See the "CREATE Statement" for more information about the order of statements. The UNIQUE statement is affected by whether you specified the ASSIGN statement when you created the access descriptor on which this view is based, as follows:

If you specified the ASSIGN= YES option, the UNIQUE= option cannot be used when creating a view descriptor. YES causes SAS to generate unique names, so UNIQUE is not necessary.
If you omitted the ASSIGN statement or specified ASSIGN= NO, resolve any duplicate SAS variable names in the view descriptor. Use the UNIQUE= option to generate unique names automatically, or you can use the RENAME= option to resolve duplicate names yourself.

See the "RENAME Statement" for information about that statement.

If duplicate SAS variable names exist in the Access Descriptor that you are using to creating a View Descriptor, specify the UNIQUE= option to resolve the duplication. When you specify tUNIQUE= YES, the SAS/ACCESS interface appends numbers to any duplicate SAS variable names, thus making each variable name unique.

See the "CREATE Statement".

If you specify UNIQUE= NO, the SAS/ACCESS interface continues to allow duplicate SAS variable names to exist. To create the View Descriptor, resolve duplicate names before saving.

Note: It is recommended that you use the UNIQUE statement. If you omit it and SAS encounters duplicate SAS variable names in a view descriptor, your job fails. The equal (=) sign is optional in the UNIQUE statement.