CODEWITHSUNDEEP
sas
user27008
user27008

Reputation: 610

SAS transport file explanation?

I am trying to find an easy to understand definition of what a SAS transport file is, but most of what I find is on how to create them. I am hoping for a basic explanation/definition, if possible geared towards someone who isn't too techno-savvy.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 247

Answers (1)

Joe
Joe

Reputation: 63434

A SAS transport file is one format for saving a SAS dataset that is easily read in by other sources. SAS's native format, .sas7bdat, is proprietary - they do not publish how to make a .sas7bdat, so the few people who have done so had to reverse engineer it themselves. SAS does however have some interest in being able to send or receive data to other programs; so they created the transport file format, which is an "open" format - meaning they published the specification for how to make a transport file, so anybody could easily write a program in another language to make a SAS transport file.

Think of it like the old DOC format for Microsoft Word, versus RTF. Both convey the same information (roughly), but RTF is an open format that many programs can write out, while the old DOC format was not initially published (I think).

The transport format does lose some advantages of the sas7bdat, in terms of speed of access and some of the more modern choices in terms of lengths of variable name, as well as formats. They're most commonly used for FDA transmittals.

Upvotes: 2

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