FILENAME

The FILENAME statement can be used to define a file reference used with:

* an INFILE statement -- used define an external raw data file which is to be read,
* a FILE statement -- used define an external raw data file which is to be written, or
* a %INCLUDE statement -- used to incorporate SAS code from an external file into the current program.

An example SAS FILENAME statement is given below:

FILENAME fileref 'C:\filename.txt' ;

Where:

* FILENAME is the SAS language statement used to associate a file reference name with an external data file.

* fileref is a name used within the SAS program to refer to the external data file defined within the single quotes of the FILENAME statement.

* 'filename.txt' is the full specification of the external data file. If the file is not in the current directory, then the name in quotes should include the full directory specification: