On Wed, 23 Jun 2004 13:23:32 -0700, kumar <subramanyam_22@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>I have Program running that is supposed to erase all the old data and >write new data on it somehow it is not doing it does anybody has an >Idea, I do not Know I am be wrong but I looking code like this > >CALL SYSTEM('ERASE ' || "&PGMDRIVE" || '\INVEST\PRINTOUT\' || >TRIM(REPORT) || '.PRT'); > DELETE; > >i am not sure Please help me >Thank you in advance.

Hi Kumar,

Apparently you want to delete any file in the Windows system (if it is Windows you are working on), not just a SAS dataset. In that case you could issue a DOS command via the CALL SYSTEM statement, the X command, or the % SYSEXEC macro statement, but the DOS command for deleting is DEL, just the three letters DEL, nothing more, not ERASE.

However, if you write some new ascii file with a FILE statement in your data step, I think it is automagically overwritten already, unless you would specify some append option OLD. So you don't really need to delete a file physically beforehand.

If you want to delete an existing dataset you could: PROC DATASETS; DELETE <<Lib_name.dataset_name>>; * default lib_name = work; RUN;

Regards - Jim (as already said, from home via web, late in the evening).