One of the first things SAS programmers learn is that SAS data sets can be specified in two ways. You can use a two-level name such as "sashelp.class" which uses a SAS libref (SASHELP) and a member name (CLASS) to specify the location of the data set. Alternatively, you can use a one-level name such as "TempData," and SAS searches for the data set in a default location.

In many SAS environments, one-level data set names are like the seven little dwarves: Heigh-Ho, heigh-ho, it's off to WORK they go! One-level data set names are like the seven little dwarves: Heigh-Ho, heigh-ho, it's off to WORK they go! #sastip Click To TweetIn other words, the WORK directory is the default location for one-level names. Consequently, one-level names often imply "temporary data," because data sets in WORK are deleted when you exit SAS.

However, it is possible to use the OPTIONS statement to change the libref that SAS searches when you specify a one-level SAS data set name. The option name is USER. The following statements specify a new libref that SAS should use as the default location for one-level data set names:

libname DEFLIB "C:/Temp";    /* define any libref */
options user=DEFLIB;         /* set the default location for one-level names */

For example, the following DATA step uses a one-level name for the data set. Consequently, the data set is created in the USER directory and PROC DATASETS lists the data sets in USER rather than WORK:

data TempData; x=1; y=2; z=3; run;  /* create data set using one-level name */
proc datasets; run;                 /* note that it is in the USER libref! */

Personally, I never do this because data sets in USER are not deleted when SAS exits. However, this example shows that one-level names are not always stored in WORK.

Discover the default storage location

If a one-level data set name is not necessarily in WORK, can you programmatically discover the libref where the data set is? Yes! The GETOPTION function returns the value for any SAS option, so you can retrieve the value of the USER option. For example, the following DATA step discovers the libref and data set name for a specified data set. For a two-level name, the name contains a period, which you can find by using the FINDC function. You can then use the SUBSTR function to extract the name of the libref and data set. If the data set name is a one-level name, then the GETOPTION function obtains the default libref. (If the USER option is not set, GETOPTION returns a blank string.)

%let MyData = TempData;       /* specify one-level or two-level data set name */
 
data _null_;
dsName = "&MyData";
LocDot = findc(dsName, ".");          /* Does name contain a period (.)?     */
if LocDot > 0 then do;                /*   Yes: it is a two-level name       */
   lib = substr(dsName, 1, LocDot-1); /*     get substring before the period */
   member = substr(dsName, LocDot+1); /*     get substring after the period  */
end;
else do;                              /*   No: it is a one-level name        */
   lib = getoption("user");           /*   Has this option been defined?     */
   if lib = ' ' then lib = "work";    /*     No: use WORK                    */
   member = dsName;
end;
put lib=;
put member=;
run;

lib=DEFLIB
member=TempData

In summary, although one-level data set names are usually stored in WORK, that is not always the case. However, a programmer can use the GETOPTION function to discover the libref where one-level data sets are stored.

An application to SAS/IML programming

The reason I was interested in the GETOPTION function is that I was trying to write a function in SAS/IML that would accept a one- or two-level data set name and return the names of the variables in the data. The CONTENTS function in SAS/IML almost does what I want, but the CONTENTS function has two different signatures, one for two-level names and one for one-level names:

• For two-level names, use two arguments: varNames = contents(lib, name);
• For one-level names, use one argument: varNames = contents(name);

I wanted to write a function that accepts a single string (a one-level or two-level data set name) and calls the appropriate signature of the CONTENTS function. The following SAS/IML function does the job:

proc iml;
/* new CONTENTS function that handles one- and two-level data set names */
start ContentsEx( dsName );              /* "Ex" means "extended" */
   LocDot = findc(dsName, ".");          /* Does name contain a period (.)?     */
   if LocDot > 0 then do;                /*   Yes: it is a two-level name       */
      lib = substr(dsName, 1, LocDot-1); /*     get substring before the period */
      member = substr(dsName, LocDot+1); /*     get substring after the period  */
      return( contents(lib, member) );
   end;
   return( contents(dsName) );           /*   No: it is a one-level name        */
finish;
 
dsName = "&MyData";
varNames =  ContentsEx( dsName );
print varNames;

Have you ever had the need to use the USER option to override the default storage location for one-level data set names? Leave a comment.