Using the INFILE/FILE User Exit Facility

Activating an INFILE/FILE User Exit

To activate an INFILE/FILE user exit, you generally specify the first four characters of the name of the user exit module following the ddname or data set name in an INFILE or FILE statement. For example:

infile inputdd abcd;

Only the first four characters of the user exit module name in the INFILE or FILE statement are significant; SAS forms the load module name by adding the constant IFUE to these characters. Therefore, in the previous example, SAS loads a module named ABCDIFUE.

You can also specify the name of the user exit module by using the ENGINE= option in the FILENAME statement or FILENAME function.

Note: If you use an INFILE/FILE user exit with a DATA step view, specify the name of the exit in the FILENAME statement or FILENAME function that you use to allocate the file, instead of in the INFILE or FILE statement. (If you specify the exit name in an INFILE or FILE statement, the exit is ignored when the view is executed.) For example:

filename inputdd 'my.user.exit' abcd;

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