Naming Conventions for Aster nCluster :: SAS/ACCESS(R) 9.3 for Relational Databases: Reference, Second Edition

Since SAS 7, most SAS names can be up to 32 characters long. SAS/ACCESS Interface to Aster nCluster supports table names and column names that contain up to 32 characters. If column names are longer than 32 characters, they are truncated to 32 characters. If truncating a column name would result in identical column names, SAS generates a unique name by replacing the last character with a number. DBMS table names must be 32 characters or less. SAS does not truncate a name longer than 32 characters. If you have a table name that is greater than 32 characters, it is recommended that you create a table view.

The PRESERVE_COL_NAMES= and PRESERVE_TAB_NAMES= options determine how SAS/ACCESS Interface to Aster nCluster handles case sensitivity. Aster nCluster is not case sensitive, so all names default to lowercase.

Aster nCluster objects include tables, views, and columns. They follow these conventions.

A name must be from 1 to 64 characters long.
A name must begin with a letter (A through Z), diacritic marks, non-Latin characters (200-377 octal) or an underscore (_).
To enable case sensitivity, enclose names in quotes. All references to quoted names must always be enclosed in quotes, and preserve case sensitivity.
A name cannot begin with a _bee prefix. Leading _bee prefixes are reserved for system objects.
A name cannot be a reserved word in Aster nCluster, such as WHERE or VIEW.
A name cannot be the same as another Aster nCluster object that has the same type.

For more information, see your Aster nCluster Database User's Guide.