Ramaranjan Ruj
Ramaranjan Ruj

Reputation: 55

Convert SAS file (sas7bdat) to a flat file using R/Python without memory constraints

I need to convert a SAS file into a flat file. These files can be pretty big that can go up to 60 GB in size. I wrote a script in R (below) but it reads the entire data and then exports to a CSV file. Is there a way I could convert such big files without any memory constraints. I am open to using either R or Python. I working on a machine that has 16 GB RAM.

args = commandArgs(trailingOnly=TRUE)

library(sas7bdat)

MyData <-  read.sas7bdat(file = args[1])
write.csv(MyData, file = args[2], row.names = FALSE)

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2373

Answers (1)

s3nh
s3nh

Reputation: 556

In my opinion, you can aquire solution using pandas.read_sas and chunksize arg:

Pandas read sas docs

For example, iterate through 10k observations:

import pandas as pd

chunk_size =  10**4
for chunk in pd.read_sas(filename, chunksize=chunksize):
    process(chunk)

where process() are instructions which you want to provide (append, etc.).

Upvotes: 1

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