Date:         Sun, 7 Sep 2008 12:08:42 +0200
Reply-To:     Capra Hircus <capra.hircus@ORANGE.FR>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Capra Hircus <capra.hircus@ORANGE.FR>
Organization: les newsgroups par Orange
Subject:      Re: SAS data file format ?
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
In-Reply-To:  <54b640e6-fcf5-49e8-bc7b-ca908927abb0@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Richard A. DeVenezia wrote:

> On Sep 6, 8:04 pm, Capra Hircus <capra.hir...@orange.fr> wrote:
>> I would like to know if the format specification for sas7bdat files is
>> available. I am currently writing some programs for statistical
>> computations, and I would like to write some code to import sas files.
>> (ultimately, it may be distributed as open source software)
>> If the format is not available, is it legal to find it on my own ?
>
> If you are distributing the analytic code to SAS users (who else would
> be creating SAS tables?) considering making your code capable of
> reading ODBC data sources.  Then your code will be useful to anyone
> having the appropriate drivers needed to reach the actual data being
> analyzed.
>
> --
> Richard A. DeVenezia
> http://www.devenezia.com

Actually I'm most intersted by *importing* SAS tables,
for someone who has not SAS to convert to something
more readable (for example .csv or .xls). Exporting
would only be an additionnal capability. At work
I do have SAS, but I know the license is not cheap,
and for those who have SAS files to deal with it
would be rather useful. I could write programs to
deal only with .csv, but, since Stata file format
is availbale, why not try to add this ? And why
not try to add SAS import ? The question is only:
is there a public specification ? (my guess is no)
And is it lawful to find it on my own ? (here
I'm not sure, but I would say yes)