You can use the
* (asterisk) wildcard to specify file concatenations in the FILENAME,
INFILE, and %INCLUDE statements and the INCLUDE command. The * matches
one or more characters, except for the period at the beginning of
filenames. The wildcard is supported for input only. You cannot use
the wildcard in the FILE statement.
All of the pathnames
in a concatenation must be for UNIX System Services (USS) files or
directories. A wildcard character that generates a list of mixed file
types results in an error.
The following rules
apply to the use of the * wildcard:
-
The * must be in the filename part
of the pathname.
-
Only one * can be included in any
given filename.
Examples of the * wildcard
follow:
-
An asterisk alone sets up a fileref
that concatenates all of the files, except UNIX hidden files, in
a given directory.
filename test '/u/userid/data/*';
-
A leading or trailing wildcard
includes all files that begin or end with the same characters. A period
selects all hidden UNIX files, which begin with a period.
include '/u/userid/data/test*';
include '/u/userid/data/*test.dat';
include '/u/userid/data/.*';
-
An embedded wildcard inputs all
files that have both the same beginning and ending characters.
infile '/u/userid/data/test*file';
Wildcards that you use
when you pipe data from SAS to USS commands are not expanded within
the SAS session, but are passed directly to the USS commands for interpretation.