Create a permanent SAS data file in SAS

A SAS data file is a type of SAS-formatted data set that stores data values and descriptor information in an external file. To create a SAS data file, you must define a SAS data library (an alias of a collection of one or more SAS data sets referenced and stored as a unit in SAS) using the LIBNAME statement.

As an example, to create a SAS data file from a raw data file (for example, datafile.dat) on a Unix system, you would enter:

LIBNAME misc '~/work';
  DATA misc.job1;
     INFILE datafile.dat;
     INPUT var1 var2 var3; 
  RUN;

LIBNAME aliases the library reference (libref) misc to the physical space (directory) ~/work. Be aware that misc is a logical reference and therefore does not exist in a physical storage unit.

For more, see the UITS Research Technologies Getting Started with SAS under UNIX guide.