Read Text File with DSL (from Fraktal SAS Programming)

What is this?

SAS can read directly from any text file. Moreover SAS can read directly from any data source that has text file properties, such as FTP, HTTP, or XML, also from named pipes and DDE hotlinks.

When intending to read from a plain text file, you simply specify path and filename along with a description of the record structure. The text file shall look like this:

Royal Inn#King's Suite#4#540
The European#Standard#1#120
St.Peter's#Business#2#333

Documented Code

Code executed	Function performed
data plaintext;	Initiate data step processing with a DATA statement
infile source "&PATH.\&FILENAME." dlm = '#';	Specify text file's location and name and introduce the number sign '#' as delimiter
length hotel $16 category $16 no_of_beds rate_in_GBP 8;	Allocate field space by supplying length in bytes and data type
input hotel $ category $ no_of_beds rate_in_GBP;	Specify data structure on text file
run;	Terminate the data step

Results

When issuing the phrase "vt hotels" in the command window of your SAS session, the following table might pop-up.

hotel	category	no_of_beds	rate_in_GBP
Royal Inn	King's Suite	4	540
The European	Standard	1	120
St.Peter's	Business	2	333