SORTSIZE System Option: Windows

Specifies the amount of memory available to the SORT procedure.
Valid in: configuration file, SAS invocation, OPTIONS statement, SAS System Options window
Categories: Sort: Procedure options

System administration: Memory
PROC OPTIONS GROUP= MEMORY

SORT
Default: 256M
Windows specifics: Default value
See: SORTSIZE= System Option in SAS System Options: Reference
Syntax
Details
Comparisons
See Also

Syntax

-SORTSIZE n | nK | nM | nG | hexX | MIN | MAX
SORTSIZE= n | nK | nM | nG | hexX | MIN | MAX

Required Arguments

n | nK | nM | nG
specifies the amount of memory in multiples of 1; 1,024 (kilobytes); 1,048,576 (megabytes); and 1,073,741,824 (gigabytes) respectively. You can specify decimal values for the number of kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes. For example, a value of 8 specifies 8 bytes, a value of .782k specifies 801 bytes, and a value of 3m specifies 3,145,728 bytes.
hexX
specifies the amount of memory as a hexadecimal value. You must specify the value beginning with a number (0–9), followed by an X. For example, the value 2dx sets the amount of memory to 45 bytes.
MIN
specifies the minimum amount of memory available.
MAX
specifies the maximum amount of memory available.

Details

By default, this option is set to the maximum amount of memory available. The SORTSIZE system option can reduce the amount of swapping SAS must do to sort the data set. If PROC SORT needs more memory than you specify, it creates a temporary utility file in your Saswork directory in which to store the data. The SORT procedure's algorithm can swap unneeded data more efficiently than Windows can.

Comparisons

The SORTSIZE option is similar to the REALMEMSIZE option. SORTSIZE only affects the SORT procedure. REALMEMSIZE affects multiple procedures.

See Also

SORT Procedure: Windows
Improving Performance of the SORT Procedure
Copyright © SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.