Exploring SAS Libraries
This document will explain the function of SAS libraries and how to view them in the Explorer window.
What is a SAS library? A SAS library is a folder where your SAS datasets are stored. At USC, you will always see at least the four directories at right in your Explorer window. The Maps, Sashelp and Sasuser directories are installed with SAS. If you would like to use some existing SAS datasets to practice using SAS, e.g., for statistical analysis, double-click the Sasuser library to see the example datasets available for your use. The library “Work” is your working directory. If you imported a file from another program, e.g., Excel, and did not have a LIBNAME statement, that file is located in your Work directory. If you have defined SAS libraries using a LIBNAME statement, those libraries will also show up in the Explorer window. This is useful if you can’t remember the libref you used in the LIBNAME statement and don’t want to scroll up to the top of your program editor or log window. SAS datasets are contained within SAS libraries. To learn more about datasets, see the page Opening and Editing SAS datasets. Learn More For more information on the LIBNAME statement, please see our Saving SAS data page.Last updated:
February 24, 2010