The DATASOURCE Procedure

controls the alignment of SAS dates used to identify output observations. The ALIGN= option allows the following values: BEGINNING | BEG | B, MIDDLE | MID | M, and ENDING | END | E. BEGINNING is the default.

specifies the incoming data is ASCII. This option is used when the native character set of your host machine is EBCDIC.

specifies the FAME database to access. Only use this option with the filetype=FAME option. The character string you specify in the DBNAME= option is passed through to FAME. Specify the value of this option as you would in accessing the database from within FAME software.

specifies the incoming data is ebcdic. This option is needed when the native character set of your host machine is ASCII.

prints the FAME command file generated by PROC DATASOURCE and the log file produced by the FAME component of the interface system. Only use this option with the filetype=FAME option.

specifies the kind of input data file to process. See Data Elements Reference: DATASOURCE Procedure for a list of supported file types. The FILETYPE= option is required.

creates a set of single indexes from BY variables for the OUT= data set. Under some circumstances, creating indexes for a SAS data set may increase the efficiency in locating observations when BY or WHERE statements are used in subsequent steps. Refer to SAS Language Reference: Concepts for more information on SAS indexes. The INDEX option is ignored when no OUT= data set is created or when the data file does not contain any BY variables. The INDEX= data set option can be used to override the index variable definitions.

specifies the fileref assigned to the input data file. The default value is DATAFILE. The fileref used in the INFILE= option (or if no INFILE= option is specified, the fileref DATAFILE) must be associated with the physical data file in a FILENAME statement. (On some operating systems, the fileref assignment can be made with the system’s control language, and a FILENAME statement may not be needed. Refer to SAS Statements: Reference for more details on the FILENAME statement. Physical data files can reside on DVD, CD-ROM, or other media.

For some file types, the data are distributed over several files. In this case, the INFILE= option is required, and it lists in parentheses the filerefs for each of the files making up the database. The order in which these FILEREFS are listed is important and must conform to the specifics of each file type as explained in Data Elements Reference: DATASOURCE Procedure.

The logical record length in bytes of the infile. Only use this if you need to override the default LRECL of the file. For some file types, the data are distributed over several files. In this case, the LRECL= option lists in parentheses the LRECLs for each of the files making up the database. The order in which these LRECLs are listed is important and must conform to the specifics of each file type as explained in Data Elements Reference: DATASOURCE Procedure.

The record format of the infile. Only use this if you need to override the default record format of the file. For some file types, the data are distributed over several files. In this case, the RECFM= option lists in parentheses the RECFMs for each of the files making up the database. The order in which these RECFMs are listed is important and must conform to the specifics of each file type as explained in Data Elements Reference: DATASOURCE Procedure. The possible values of RECFM are

specifies the periodicity of series selected for output to the OUT= data set. The OUT= data set created by PROC DATASOURCE can contain only time series with the same periodicity. Some data files contain time series with different periodicities; for example, a file can contain both monthly series and quarterly series. Use the INTERVAL= option to indicate which periodicity you want. If you want to extract series with different periodicities, use different PROC DATASOURCE invocations with the desired INTERVAL= options.

Common values for INTERVAL= are YEAR, QUARTER, MONTH, WEEK, and DAY. The values allowed, as well as the default value of the INTERVAL= option, depend on the file type. See Data Elements Reference: DATASOURCE Procedure for the INTERVAL= values appropriate to the data file type you are reading.

names the output data set for the time series extracted from the data file. If none of the output data set options are specified, including the OUT= data set itself, an OUT= data set is created and named according to the DATAn convention. However, when you create any of the other output data sets, such as OUTCONT=, OUTBY=, OUTALL=, or OUTEVENT=, you must explicitly specify the OUT= data set; otherwise, it will not be created. See OUT= Data Set for further details.

writes information on the contents of the input data file to an output data set. The OUTALL= data set includes descriptive information, time ranges, and observation counts for all the time series within each BY group. By default, no OUTALL= data set is created.

The OUTALL= data set contains the Cartesian product of the information output by the OUTCONT= and OUTBY= options. In data files for which there are no cross sections, the OUTALL= and OUTCONT= data sets are almost equivalent, except that OUTALL= data set also reports time ranges and observation counts of series. See OUTALL= Data Set for further details.

writes information on the BY variables to an output data set. The OUTBY= data set contains the list of cross sections in the database delimited by the unique set of values that the BY variables assume. Unless the OUTSELECT=OFF option is present, only the selected BY groups are written to the OUTBY= data set. If you omit the OUTBY= option, no OUTBY= data set is created. See OUTBY= Data Set for further details.

writes information on the contents of the input data file to an output data set. By default, the OUTCONT= data set includes descriptive information on all of the unique series of the selected periodicity in the data file. When the OUTSELECT=OFF option is omitted, the OUTCONT= data set includes observations only for the series selected for output to the OUT= data set. By default, no OUTCONT= data set is created. See OUTCONT= Data Set for further details.

names the output data set to output event-oriented time series data. This option can only be used when CRSP stock files are being processed. For all other file types, it will be ignored. See OUTEVENT= Data Set for further details.

determines whether to output all observations (OUTSELECT=OFF) or only those corresponding to the selected time series and selected BY groups (OUTSELECT=ON) to OUTCONT=, OUTBY=, and OUTALL= data sets. The default is OUTSELECT=ON. The OUTSELECT= option is only relevant when any one of the auxiliary data sets is specified. The option writes observations to OUTCONT=, OUTBY=, and OUTALL= data sets for only the selected time series and selected BY groups if it is set ON. The OUTSELECT= option is only relevant when any one of the OUTCONT=, OUTBY=, and OUTALL= options is specified. The default is OUTSELECT=ON.