Importing a Local Data File

To import data from a spreadsheet, delimited text file, or SAS data set, follow these steps:

Select FileImport DataLocal File, and then select the data file.
In the Import Local File window, specify the following input file parameters:

Note: For SAS data sets, there are no parameters to specify.

Spreadsheet options

The following options are available when you import a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet:

Select worksheet^{Applies
to XLS}

Select All or the check boxes for the worksheets to import. For more information, see Working with Spreadsheets.

Begin import on row

The default is to import data from the first row of the spreadsheet. If the data begins on a different row, make changes.

Includes column names

Select this check box when the row on which to begin the import has the column names.

Text file options

The following options are available when you import a delimited text file:

Delimiter

Select the delimiter that is used in the text file to import. You can specify a single character to use as a user-defined delimiter.

First row contains column names

Select this check box when the text file includes the column names on the first row of the file.

Data records begin on row

The default is to import data records from the first row. If you select First row contains column names, then this value increments to 2.

Number of rows to scan

The default is to read up to the first 500 rows from the file to determine the data type and length for each column. Smaller values cause the import to complete quickly, but you risk the chance of determining too short a value for character columns. Larger values reduce the chance of truncating character columns, but they increase processing time.

Encoding

Select the encoding of the text file. If you are importing UTF-8 or UTF-16 data, make sure that the SAS Application Server is a Unicode server or that all of the file contents can be successfully transcoded to the encoding of the SAS Application Server.
(Optional) Click Preview to view the data. Preview displays up to 500 rows from the file.

Tip
Previewing the data can help you determine whether you specified the correct encoding.
(Optional) In the Output Table section, enter the name for the table and a description. Review the library and location settings by clicking Advanced and make changes if necessary.
Click OK.

Note: When users import a data file from the explorer or designer and do not have the Build Data capability, the Advanced information in step 4 is not available. These users can import the data to a general-purpose area, or select Store the data in a private location to prevent other users from accessing the data.