MSYMTABMAX= System Option

Specifies the maximum amount of memory available to the macro variable symbol table or tables.

Valid in:	Configuration fileOPTIONS windowOPTIONS statement SAS invocation
PROC OPTIONS GROUP=	MACRO
Type:	System option

Syntax

Details

Syntax

MSYMTABMAX= n | nK | nM | nG | MAX

Required Arguments

n: specifies the maximum memory available in bytes.

nK: specifies the maximum memory available in kilobytes.

nM: specifies the maximum memory available in megabytes.

nG: specifies the maximum memory available in gigabytes.

MAX: specifies the maximum memory of 65534.

Details

Once the maximum value is reached, additional macro variables are written out to disk.

The value that you specify with the MSYMTABMAX= system option can range from 0 to the largest nonnegative integer representable on your operating environment. The default values are host dependent. A value of 0 causes all macro symbol tables to be written to disk.

The value of MSYMTABMAX= can affect system performance. If this option is set too low and the application frequently reaches the specified memory limit, then disk I/O increases. If this option is set too high (on some operating environments) and the application frequently reaches the specified memory limit, then less memory is available for the application, and CPU usage increases. Before you specify the value for production jobs, run tests to determine the optimum value.