You might see the following error in the SAS^® log when a SAS^® 9.3 or later data set is read in SAS^® 9.2 or earlier:

ERROR: File libref.member.DATA not compatible with this SAS version.

This problem can occur if the data set was created in SAS 9.3 or later and the SAS option EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=YES (or the alias EOC=YES) was set when the SAS data set was created.

• In SAS 9.3, EXTENDOBSCOUNTER= is available as a data set option or LIBNAME statement option.
• In SAS^® 9.4, EXTENDOBSCOUNTER= is available as a data set option, a LIBNAME statement option, and a SAS system option. The default value for the SAS system option in SAS 9.4 is EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=YES, which means that all new SAS data sets are created with this setting.

To determine whether a SAS data set was created with EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=YES, run the CONTENTS procedure in SAS 9.3 or later on that SAS data set as shown on the Full Code tab above. If EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=YES, the EXTENDOBSCOUNTER field is displayed in the CONTENTS procedure output, as shown on the Output tab. With EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=NO, no field for EXTENDOBSCOUNTER appears in the output from PROC CONTENTS.

Reading This Data Set in SAS 9.2 or Earlier

In order to share this data set with a site that is running SAS 9.2 or earlier, you must do one of the following:

• Using SAS 9.3, do one of the following:
• Re-create the data set with the data set option EOC=NO, as shown on the Full Code tab above.
• Create a transport file using PROC CPORT and then, in SAS 9.2, use PROC CIMPORT to read it.
• Using SAS 9.4, do one of the following:
• Re-create the data set with the SAS system option EXTENDOBSCOUNTER=NO or its alias EOC=NO.
• Create a transport file using PROC CPORT and then, in SAS 9.2, use PROC CIMPORT to read it.

If you are running SAS 9.2 and get the error "File libref.member.DATA not compatible with this SAS version" and CONTENTS procedure output for the data set shows that the data set was created with SAS 9.3 or SAS 9.4, the data set MUST be re-created using the steps described above.

Ensure That Any Data Set You Create in SAS 9.4 Can Be Read in SAS 9.2 or Earlier

To ensure that a data set created in SAS 9.4 can be read by SAS 9.2 (or earlier), do any of the following:

1. Submit the following statement in your SAS 9.4 session.

options ExtendObsCounter=no;

2. Specify the option EOC=NO at SAS invocation.
3. Specify the option in a SAS configuration file that is processed when the SAS system initializes.

   -EXTENDOBSCOUNTER NO 
   

   The default location for the SAS 9.4 configuration file for SAS Foundation is C:\Program Files\SASHome\SASFoundation\9.4\nls\en\sasv9.cfg

Additional Information

• For more information about the EXTENDOBSCOUNTER= option, see the option description in the SAS(R) 9.4 Data Set Options: Reference documentation.
• More information about compatibility of SAS 9.4 data sets and other new file features not supported in previous releases is available on this Migration web page.

Operating System and Release Information

/* Create a data set with ExtendObsCounter=YES */ 

data test_eoc_on (eoc=yes); 
   x=1;  
   y=1;  
run;  

/* See how PROC CONTENTS displays a data set with EOC=YES */  
ods listing;  
title "Contents of data set with EOC=YES";  
proc contents data=test_eoc_on;  
run;  

/* Copy that data set into a new data set with ExtendObsCounter=NO */   
data test_eoc_off (eoc=no); 
   set test_eoc_on;  
run;  

/* See how PROC CONTENTS displays a data set with EOC=NO */  
ods listing;
title "Contents of data set with EOC=NO";    
proc contents data=test_eoc_off;  
run; 

                                Contents of data set with EOC=YES                               

                                     The CONTENTS Procedure

     Data Set Name        WORK.TEST_EOC_ON                          Observations          1
     Member Type          DATA                                      Variables             2
     Engine               V9                                        Indexes               0
     Created              Thursday, October 10, 2013 04:38:38 PM    Observation Length    16
     Last Modified        Thursday, October 10, 2013 04:38:38 PM    Deleted Observations  0
     Protection                                                     Compressed            NO
     Data Set Type                                                  Sorted                NO
     Label
     Data Representation  WINDOWS_64
     Encoding             wlatin1  Western (Windows)


                                Engine/Host Dependent Information

Data Set Page Size          4096
Number of Data Set Pages    1
First Data Page             1
Max Obs per Page            252
Obs in First Data Page      1
Number of Data Set Repairs  0
ExtendObsCounter            YES
Filename                    C:\Users\sassxm\AppData\Local\Temp\SAS Temporary
                            Files\_TD2956_D73875_\test_eoc_on.sas7bdat
Release Created             9.0301M2
Host Created                X64_7PRO


                           Alphabetic List of Variables and Attributes

                                  #    Variable    Type    Len

                                  1    x           Num       8
                                  2    y           Num       8
 



                               Contents of data set with EOC=NO    
                            
                                     The CONTENTS Procedure

     Data Set Name        WORK.TEST_EOC_OFF                         Observations          1
     Member Type          DATA                                      Variables             2
     Engine               V9                                        Indexes               0
     Created              Thursday, October 10, 2013 04:38:38 PM    Observation Length    16
     Last Modified        Thursday, October 10, 2013 04:38:38 PM    Deleted Observations  0
     Protection                                                     Compressed            NO
     Data Set Type                                                  Sorted                NO
     Label
     Data Representation  WINDOWS_64
     Encoding             wlatin1  Western (Windows)


                                Engine/Host Dependent Information

Data Set Page Size          4096
Number of Data Set Pages    1
First Data Page             1
Max Obs per Page            252
Obs in First Data Page      1
Number of Data Set Repairs  0
Filename                    C:\Users\sassxm\AppData\Local\Temp\SAS Temporary
                            Files\_TD2956_D73875_\test_eoc_off.sas7bdat
Release Created             9.0301M2
Host Created                X64_7PRO


                           Alphabetic List of Variables and Attributes

                                  #    Variable    Type    Len

                                  1    x           Num       8
                                  2    y           Num       8