SAS import CSV Data

Question

i want to import a CSV Data (1,7 GB) in the SAS Enterprise Guide with "Import Data". SAS recognize the data. Delimited with a ;. So i think actually all is fine. After 45 minutes of work SAS gave me this Error Message:

ERROR: Insufficient space in file WORK.xxx.DATA.
ERROR: File WORK.XXX.DATA is damaged. I/O processing did not complete.
WARNING: The data set WORK.B2759_2002BIS2013_ALSCSV may be incomplete.  When this step was stopped there were 715568 observations 
     and 42 variables.

I tried the same at home and i saw that my disk (50 gb free) was full and i got a similar Message. Why need SAS 50 gb to import an 1,7 gb file? How can i import that csv. data?

Answer 1

I solved it with:

/* Importiert die CSV Datei vom SAS Server*/
proc import datafile="xxxxx"  out=mydata   dbms=dlm    replace;
delimiter=';';
 getnames=yes;
run;

Answer 2

SAS EG creates an intermediate delimited file and also caches the data. It is just the way it works to make the experience smooth for users across different platforms.

To avoid it, how about you read in the data using a data step or PROC IMPORT? Have a go writing the code. If you fail, post it on Stack as a separate question with some obfuscated sample data and someone will give you a hand.

Regards, Vasilij

Answer 3

This works on EG 7.1, in the step 4 of 'import data', check 'Generalize import step to run outside SAS Enterprise Guide'. Doing this will generate data step that imports data directly without intermediate cache. You can also try to change your output destination on Step 1 to where you have plenty storeage.